Dem Attorney General hopeful in Virginia cancels fundraiser after violent text scandal

Democratic Virginia Attorney General nominee Jay Jones canceled a fundraiser scheduled for Thursday night in the wake of backlash he faced over previous text messages in which he fantasized about putting “two bullets” in a fellow Republican’s head.

The fundraiser is scheduled to be held at author David Baldosi’s home, but donors attending are expected to receive a note saying their contributions will be refunded since the event was cancelled, a person familiar with the matter told Axios.

The canceled fundraiser suggests Jones’ campaign is still in crisis repair mode after news of his violent rhetoric, which even fellow Democrats in Virginia condemned alongside Jones. However, those same Virginia Democrats stopped short of calling Jones out of the race.

Virginia AG reveals what’s ‘astonishing’ about Dem opponent’s texts

On Tuesday, in a new campaign ad titled “Two Bullets,” Republican gubernatorial candidate Winsome Earl Sabers criticized her Democratic opponent, a former Virginia congresswoman from the state’s 7th Congressional District, Abigail Spanberger, for failing to call Jones out of the race.

“Jay Jones says he wants to put two bullets in a political opponent,” the ad begins, before cutting back to Spanberger saying, “Let it feed you.” The narrator then returns and begins noting to the newspaper headlines that “Jones says he hopes opponent’s children die”, before, once again, highlighting Spanberger’s “Rage” comments.

“Abigail Spanberger continues to support Jones,” the ad’s narrator continues. “She stands with him, not us.”

Democrats are siding with Virginia AG hopeful who fantasized about killing GOP lawmakers

Jones’ opponent, Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares, released his massive $1.5 million buyout in response to Jones’ text messages as well.

Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares speaks during a campaign event for the Vienna-born Virginia Republican gubernatorial candidate at the Vienna Volunteer Fire Department on July 1, 2025, in Vienna, Virginia. (Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images)

The text messages came from Jones in 2022, where he was trying to describe a hypothetical situation about who would kill if Jones had a gun with only two bullets and there were three people standing in front of him.

“Three people, two bullets,” the text messages read. “Gilbert, Hitler and Pol Pot. Gilbert gets two bullets to the head,” Jones wrote, referring to then-House Speaker Todd Gilbert. He added, “Spoiler: Put Gilbert in the crew with the two worst people you know and he takes both bullets every time.”

The text messages that have surfaced from 2022 come at a time of heightened sensitivity to inflammatory political rhetoric and violence following the assassination of Charlie Kirk and the attempted assassination of President Donald Trump.

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Even Democrats warned – in the wake of Kirk’s recent assassination – that “violent words precede violent actions” and “we must have a culture of condemning any speech that glorifies violence.”

Jones did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment on this story. Representatives for Miyares declined to comment.

Fox News Digital’s Charles Kretz contributed to this report.