Steve Cortes, president and founder of the League of American Workers (LAW) said violent texts sent by Virginia Attorney General candidate Jay Jones (D) were “dehumanizing and dangerous.”
Cortes’ comments were in response to an Old Dominion News report in which talk show host Tucker Carlson said that Jones is “a gun control advocate calling for the murder of kids.”
“Jay Jones’ words weren’t just angry political rhetoric, they were dehumanizing and dangerous,” Cortes told Old Dominion News. “When a man who wants to be the top law enforcement officer in Virginia jokes about shooting opponents and harming their children, that crosses a line no civilized society should tolerate.”
“Democrats would be demanding his resignation if a Republican said anything remotely similar,” said Cortes. “This episode shows how deep the rot of hatred and tribalism has gone inside their party.”
Cortes previously worked in finance and later became a frequent political analyst on CNBC, CNN, and Fox News, where he emphasized populist themes and Latino outreach. He founded LAW, and organization that advocates for secure borders, fair trade, and policies that prioritize American workers over foreign interests.
During a recent episode of The Tucker Carlson Show, commentator Tucker Carlson criticized Virginia Attorney General candidate Jay Jones (D) over leaked text messages in which Jones used violent language toward several Virginia Republicans.
“This is a leading Democrat who wants to be the chief law enforcement officer in the state, who is a gun control advocate calling for the murder of kids,” said Carlson. “And calling for the murder of kids because they’re related to adults he doesn’t like. This is African ethics. This is the Hutu mentality. This is guilt by blood. There was nothing less Western than this.”
“This is the idea that you are tainted or you’re virtuous because of how you were born,” said Carlson. “This is a collective understanding of the world. This is tribal.”
The comments followed the release of text messages from 2022, obtained by Politico, in which Jones wrote that then–House Speaker Todd Gilbert “gets two bullets to the head” and said Gilbert’s children “shouldn’t be safe either.”
Jones also referenced attending the funerals of Republican legislators and “pissing on their graves,” The Washington Post reported. In other texts, Jones targeted a fellow Democrat he viewed as too friendly with Republicans, calling him a “traitor.”
The texts were first shared with state Rep. Carrie Coyner, a Republican, who said she repeatedly asked Jones whether he was joking. According to Politico, Jones confirmed that he meant what he wrote and did not retract his statements when pressed. He has since said the texts were sent in anger during a “deeply divisive political climate,” AP News reported.
Jones, a former Democratic delegate from Norfolk, is running against incumbent Republican Attorney General Jason Miyares in the November election. The texting scandal dominated the pair’s most recent debate, where Miyares questioned Jones’s judgment and temperament for the state’s top law enforcement position.
