Republican Attorney General Jason Miyares is appealing to voters who back Democratic gubernatorial nominee Abigail Spanberger, breaking from the message pushed by his own party’s nominee for governor.
In a new television ad released Tuesday, Miyares used clips of Spanberger condemning Democratic attorney general nominee Jay Jones. The ad, which will air on TV in all of Virginia’s media markets, contrasts with the messaging from Republican gubernatorial nominee Winsome Earle-Sears, who is running ads accusing Spanberger of being silent on Jones.
“Are you voting for Spanberger? What about Jay Jones?” the Miyares ad begins. It then cuts to a clip from the gubernatorial debate in which Spanberger calls Jones’ comments “abhorrent.”
The comments from Jones being referenced come from news reports that in 2022, he texted Del. Carrie Coyner, R-Chesterfield, saying he would shoot the Republican House speaker over Hitler and Pol Pot. Jones also texted during that exchange that if the speaker’s wife had to experience her children dying, then maybe the speaker would consider a change in gun policy.
Spanberger condemned the texts from Jones after the story first broke, but she has not called on him to drop out of the race. It would be too late for Democrats to replace him on the ballot, as early voting began in mid-September.
“Spanberger refused to endorse Jay Jones three times,” the narrator of the Miyares ad continues, before showing a clip from the debate of Spanberger saying it is up to voters to make their “own individual decision.”
The ad clashes with messaging coming from the Earle-Sears campaign, which released an ad on the same day showing a scene from the debate when she asked Spanberger to call on Jones to drop out.
“Abigail Spanberger — her silence says it all,” appears on the end screen.
Earle-Sears also posted a video on social media on Monday of Spanberger, Jones, and Democratic lieutenant governor nominee Ghazala Hashmi in a photo booth on the campaign trail.
“No one supports Jay Jones more than Abigail Spanberger,” Earle-Sears captioned the video, which was posted by Democrats long before the scandal began.
The Miyares campaign declined to comment. The Spanberger, Earle-Sears and Jones campaigns did not respond to requests for comment.
Chris LaCivita, who managed Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign and has been critical of the Earle-Sears campaign multiple times, said, “This is what a smart campaign does” in a social media post about the Miyares ad.
The move from Miyares has been foreshadowed many times this year by pundits who believe that Miyares is the only Republican with a chance to win in November.
There have been no public polls since the Jones scandal started, but numbers released on Oct. 6 by The Wason Center at Christopher Newport University showed a 10-point lead for Spanberger and a six-point lead for Jones.
Election Day is Nov. 4.