With debate discussions largely absent from Virginia’s top-ticket races, the attorney general contest has emerged as the first to show signs of engagement — and tension — over whether the candidates will face off before voters head to the polls.
It started recently after Attorney General Jason Miyares called out his Democratic opponent, Jay Jones, for declining a debate with the Republican-leaning WJLA-TV station in Northern Virginia.
“Soft Jay Jones made the right call here,” Miyares spokesperson Alex Cofield said in a statement on July 30. “His record on early release for domestic assault, murderers, and even child rapists was brought up early and often by his own opponent during his primary campaign. Now that he is forced to defend his own record against an experienced prosecutor, Jay Jones ducked the debate. It’s the right call — I wouldn’t want to defend his record either.”
On Wednesday, Jones announced that he has accepted a debate with the Virginia State Bar in October.
“[Jones] looks forward to sharing his plans to protect and defend Virginia families,” Jones spokesperson Georgia Greenleaf said in a statement. “We hope Jason Miyares accepts this opportunity to debate, because Virginians deserve answers on Miyares’ record of using the AG’s office to advance an extremist MAGA agenda. Miyares has been Trump’s biggest enabler, openly letting Trump unlawfully fire Virginia’s federal workers, withhold funds for our public schools, and attack abortion access.”
The Miyares campaign responded to Virginia Scope’s request for comment on Thursday afternoon. They did not specify if they are accepting the invitation, but they expressed concern over the format of the debate, the timing — with early voting beginning Sept. 19 — and the possibility that the debate might not be available to the public.
“It’s unfortunate that Jay refuses to debate until a month after voters are able to cast their ballots,” Cofield said. “Instead of a live broadcast debate that everyone could see, he has chosen a closed forum that has yet to finalize a moderator, rules, or format to try to defend his soft-on-crime agenda. The attorney general looks forward to highlighting Jay’s policies that make Virginians less safe at every opportunity possible.”
The Virginia State Bar did stream the 2021 debate between Miyares and former Attorney General Mark Herring.
Jones told reporters Thursday morning that he hopes Miyares accepts the invite.
“I look forward to debating Jason at the Virginia State Bar event in October,” Jones said after a campaign stop in Richmond. “We can talk about our vision for Virginia — about keeping people safe — and talk about how we’re going to fight for Virginia, put Virginia First and not back down to the Trump administration, who continues to harm Virginia. From an economic standpoint, we’ve slipped from first to fourth in the rankings for the best states for business, and we are lacking in resources that could be achieved had he done his job. We can litigate that at the debate. I hope they accept, but we’ll wait to see what they have to do and what they say.”
Virginia Scope reached out to the Virginia State Bar to ask for details about the debate, including whether or not it will be available for the public to view, but he is traveling out of the country currently.
Jones released an additional comment Friday morning again calling on Miyares to participate in the state bar debate.
“Virginia voters deserve a fair and even debate, and that’s exactly what the nonpartisan Virginia State Bar – of which Jason Miyares and I are both members – can and will facilitate,” Jones said. “As with every election, this debate is a necessary tool to share our policies with voters.”