It's been a fierce campaign — two lawyers, two former House of Delegates members, both from Hampton Roads, going head to head.
I'm talking with both: Democrat Jay Jones, who repeatedly claims that his opponent, Republican Jason Miyares, is putting President Trump first over the needs of Virginians; while Miyares is focusing on text messages that Jones admits he sent three years ago, in which he envisioned a former general assembly lawmaker and his family being the victims of political violence.
Miyares says in light of that, "In my opinion, he has disqualified himself. I don't think he passes the most basic test of decency to wish violence on children and to want to see a political assassination of your opponent. I don't think that's acceptable. I think he's disqualified himself."
Jones responded, saying "I've taken accountability for my actions, and it's now time for Jason to take accountability for his and his failure to prosecute any case against Donald Trump. He's had more than 50 opportunities to hold the administration accountable, and he can't do it because he is too weak to stand up to the president."
I read a portion of Jones' apology to Miyares, where Jones said "I am embarrassed, ashamed and sorry. This was a grave mistake."
Miyares doesn't believe it's sincere, "And so I view this apology as him trying to save his political career because he's a politician---he's not a prosecutor. And so I think this election now is much more about who is the best person to keep us safe. It's about right versus wrong. It's about a basic standard of decency we should expect of our leaders."
Jones fired back: "His record is one of failure to stand up to the president. In these last nine months, he's had over 50 chances to hold this, this administration accountable, and he's not done it, and it's because he's too weak and too scared to stand up to Donald Trump. And that's what this race is about, holding the President and this administration accountable during these challenging times when people are out of work because they were illegally fired."
Miyares' response: "I sued this administration, the current administration, at the VA administration, over denial of benefits. So just shows that even his—-the single biggest mission you have in the Attorney General's Office is not politics, it's prosecution. So this shows he doesn't know what office he's running for. This is, you're the top prosecutor in the state. You're the top cop, as they say."
Jones countered, saying "Well look, for my entire career, I've held people accountable as a delegate, when we fought to make changes here in Virginia for the better, as an assistant attorney general, when we took on anti competitive mergers to keep prices down for consumers across this country, we took on the biggest ghost gun manufacturer in the country and put them out of business. We held the big banks accountable. So I've got a track record of doing that and getting things done."
And Miyares sees the race this way: "I have a proven record. We had the number one drop in addiction deaths of any state in the entire country, more than double the national average. My office alone has prosecuted and removed enough fentanyl off the streets that would have killed 7 million Virginians."
Out of the top three statewide races, the polls show the most tightening and lead changes in this one — the battle to be Virginia’s next attorney general.
