On November 5, Gov. Youngkin was taking questions from reporters following the Democrat-sweep election.
Reporter: “So AG-elect Jay Jones, he overperformed expectations last night. Do you see that as the people voting for him endorsing, or at least showing a tolerance for this kind of content in the text messages?”
Gov. Youngkin: “I am incredibly concerned about the Attorney General-elect’s ability to do the job, based on the text that he sent. They were abhorrent, and I think that they, once again, reiterate that you can’t come into this job if you are espousing death on a political enemy, the death of children, the death of law enforcement.”
“And I believe, just as I’ve always believed, that that disqualifies him for the job. The next administration’s going to have to figure out how to deal with that because they have law enforcement, and they’re going to need to make sure, feel good about doing the job. They’re going to have to make sure that parents with children feel safe. And that’s going to be a challenge going forward.”
“My position has not changed, that there is absolutely no excuse [emphasis his] for what he wrote. None. And we live in a society today that I think has lost its way some, at least some folks have, on their willingness to almost accept violence and political violence as a solution.”
“So we had during this campaign season, candidates and sitting elected officials receive death threats [including an Oct. 27 death threat to Del. Wendell Walker, R-Lynchburg], and I have no patience for this.”
“We investigate them thoroughly, we make arrests, and we prosecute. Because there is no room for anybody, anybody, to espouse, or try to minimize that violence of any kind like this, and political violence against candidates or elected leaders is an anathema. And we have to fight it with everything we have.”
You can watch the Governor’s remarks here.
As reported here, Del. Salam “Sam” Rasoul (D-Roanoke City) gave his unconditional endorsement to Jones on Nov. 1.
As reported here, Roanoke Mayor Joe Cobb (D), Delegate-elect Lily Franklin (D), and all members of the Roanoke City Council failed to voice any objection or even a statement about Jones’ violent messages.
–Scott Dreyer
