The Democratic nomination battle for the Senate District 15 special election has turned two “friends” against each other. SD-15 is a strong Democratic district, making this nomination battle highly consequential.
Del. Debra Gardner and Del. Mike Jones, both Democrats from Chesterfield, are seeking the nomination to run in the special election to finish Lt. Gov.-elect Ghazala Hashmi’s term in the state Senate.
Gardner went on the attack on Wednesday when her campaign uploaded a video to YouTube highlighting some past headlines involving Jones and a protective order placed against him by his former spouse.
“Mike Jones’ history of alleged violence toward women is shocking, dangerous and disqualifying,” the narrator of the ad reads after showing clips from past news stories about Jones.
“I’m Debra Gardner, a candidate for Senate, and I sponsored this ad,” the ad concluded.
In 2024, Jones’ then-wife issued a protective order against him, but a judge later dissolved the order after finding that the evidence was insufficient.
During the court hearing for the protective order, Jones played an audio recording of an interaction with his wife. After hearing the recording, the judge dissolved the protective order. Virginia Scope listened to the audio on Thursday morning and confirmed with a separate source who was in the courtroom the day of the hearing that it was played in court.
“I am honestly saddened that a member of my own party, someone who I thought was a friend, who I’ve talked in confidence with about this situation, would use portions of it for her political gain,” Jones said in an interview with Virginia Scope Wednesday night.
Jones said that in the attack ad, Gardner used the allegations without including information about the resolution of the case.
“We had a full conversation about the entire case, but the only part she talked about are the allegations and not the resolution,” Jones said. “It’s clear that she’s doing this for her political gain.”
The Gardner campaign declined to answer whether or not Gardner was made aware by Jones of the resolution of the allegations.
The Gardner campaign also declined to answer when asked if they plan to run the ad on TV or use it for social media. According to records obtained by Virginia Scope, Gardner is spending roughly $18,000 airing the ad on three local Richmond TV stations.
Jones is spending more than $100,000 airing an ad on Richmond area TV and radio stations where he discusses lowering costs, school funding and housing affordability.
“Rather than talking about the issues that we’re facing in Richmond and Chesterfield, all [Gardner] wants to do is try to misrepresent a situation and take a family’s pain and problem and misrepresent it,” Jones said Wednesday.
Hashmi endorsed Jones last month, saying she is “proud” to support his campaign, but her team did not respond to a request for comment Thursday morning.
Richmond Mayor Danny Avula came out in support of Jones Thursday morning, hours after Gardner released the attack ad. Avula said Jones will “fight every day for better lives for Central Virginians.”
State Sens. Louise Lucas, D-Portsmouth and Aaron Rouse, D-Virginia Beach, both are supporting Gardner over Jones.
In an endorsement statement, Lucas said Gardner is “exactly the kind of leader we need in the Virginia Senate — tough, experienced, and committed to getting results for working families.”
Voting is taking place on Sunday at three different locations in Richmond and Chesterfield on Sunday between 10 a.m and 6 p.m. View the addresses below:
