This story was reported and written by VPM News.
In their first and only public debate in the election for Virginia's attorney general, former Del. Jay Jones (D–Norfolk) said the race was about President Donald Trump — while incumbent Republican Attorney General Jason Miyares said the race was about Jones.
Thursday's event, sponsored by the Virginia Bar Association and moderated by K. Brett Marston, the Virginia State Bar president, was held at the University of Richmond.
Despite the candidates' focus on character, they did also speak about policy: energy, civil rights, crime, immigration, affordability and the role of attorney general.
At stake is not just an office with increasing ability to influence lives in the commonwealth on everything from power bills to price gouging, but also an opportunity to measure Virginians' opinion of policies Republicans are instituting from power in Washington.
The historic trend is that the party holding the presidency loses Virginia's statewide elections, and early polling pointed toward Democrats going into the election with an edge. But the 2025 race for attorney general has become much more competitive since two October surprises.
First, it was reported that Jones had completed a sentence for reckless driving by performing community service for his own PAC. Then, a story came out that while serving in the Virginia House of Delegates, Jones had sent a colleague messages that invoked violence against a top Republican.
Both incidents date back to 2022.
"It is very tough, when you're down-ticket, to try to create your own news to break through," said Tucker Martin, a communications manager for two Republican attorneys general, of the races sharing the ballot with candidates for governor and lieutenant governor. (Virginia's top officials are elected individually, not as a party-specific group ticket.)
"I think what happened here with the Jones texts is: It did break through, and it gives Jason Miyares, the incumbent, a real opportunity to run his own race," Tucker said in an interview Tuesday.
Miyares introduced himself to Thursday's debate audience by citing his record on opioid abatement and violent crime.
"We're incredibly proud of the work that we've done," said Miyares. "More Virginians are safer today because of the incredible work we've done in the attorney general's office."
The incumbent soon pivoted to Jones' texts.
"We have seen a window to who Jay Jones is," he said. "Abraham Lincoln said that character is what you do in the dark when no one is watching. But now we know what he was doing in the dark."
As part of his own opening statement, Jones repeated an apology he has made on the campaign trail.
"I am sorry to Speaker Gilbert, and I am sorry to his family. I am sorry to my family, and I am sorry to every single Virginian. I cannot take back what I said, but you have my word that I will always be accountable for my mistakes, and you also have my word that I will spend every waking moment fighting for you," he said. "Jason is going to try to make this race about my mistakes, but this race has always been about more."
"Because when Donald Trump fires workers, defunds our schools and levies tariffs that destroy our regional economies, sends armed troops into cities and defunds law enforcement, he has a willing cheerleader here in Jason Miyares," Jones added.
Looming over Democrats and independents is a question: Should they still vote for Jones, despite character doubts, because they see Trump's administration and a like-minded Republican attorney general as a bigger threat?
Paul Nolette, director of Marquette University's Les Aspin Center for Government, said in an interview Tuesday that this race's "baseline" lies at the candidates' approaches to the federal government: "Whether they will be aggressive in pushing back against what Democrats say are unconstitutional actions by the Trump administration, or whether they're going to defend those policies from the other side. That's gotten a bit lost with the scandal currently."
Federal government
Key Democratic constituencies targeted by federal policies are supercharged in the commonwealth. Deep-blue Northern Virginia is packed with government employees, many of whom are out of work or in limbo during the current shutdown.
An unofficial tally by the Virginia Employment Commission counted approximately 1,250 federal employees as applying for unemployment since Oct. 1. Before that, the number was averaging about 40 claims per week.
Shutdown aside, many are uncertain about their job security due to a general policy of dismantling or relocating federal agencies by the Trump administration.
Separately, 300,000 Virginians are expected to lose their health care due to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. And that same law would reduce state tax collections by $900 million this fiscal year — that's more than Virginia spends on aid for local transportation. (Virginia's fiscal year runs July 1–June 30; the federal fiscal year is Oct. 1–Sept. 30.)
Jason is going to try to make this race about my mistakes, but this race has always been about more.
So far, Miyares' office hasn't joined dozens of lawsuits Democratic state attorneys general have filed against the Trump administration on everything from tariffs to health care, which Jones was keen to point out.
"For the last nine months, Jason's had 50 chances to sue the administration to protect us, to protect our workers, to protect our health care, to protect our K-12 funding, funding for law enforcement, and his office hasn't done a thing because he's too weak and too scared to stand up to the president," he said.
Miyares responded by saying Jones shouldn't be running for attorney general.
"If Jay Jones wants to fight the fights in Washington, he should run for Congress, but he's running for the wrong office," he said. "He's asking you to hire him to be the top prosecutor. And I have to make this observation, he keeps saying that he is sorry — Jay, if you're really sorry, you wouldn't be running."
Affordability and energy
The rising cost of living, which surveys have consistently found to be voters' most important issue, was mostly spoken about in the context of energy.
Miyares pointed to climate policy as driving utility bill increases, primarily the Virginia Clean Economy Act and Virginia's embattled membership in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.
"I think working-class Virginians can't afford a carbon tax on their every day of their monthly energy bills, which Jay Jones supports, will be between $200–$500 million a year on the ratepayers," said Miyares of the initiative. "They simply can't afford that."
As VPM News has previously reported, RGGI (commonly pronounced reggie) assigns a cost to each ton of carbon dioxide (CO2) expelled by power plants. The general concept aims to incentivize electric utilities into investing in cleaner or more renewable energy sources or pay increasing rates for carbon emissions.
Jones reiterated his support for RGGI and called Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin's 2023 withdrawal from it "patently illegal." (The outgoing governor has called the program a "regressive tax" — the commonwealth's membership status, as well as the exit's legality, remain tied up in courts.)
The withdrawal "was sanctioned by Jason Miyares because he is too beholden to his party to step up for regular people," Jones said. "You got to know what's legal and what's illegal. For me, we have to make sure we protect our environment, clean air and clean water, and hold those people accountable so that people in Virginia can get that relief that they need."
Miyares said he supported natural gas as part of an "all of the above" energy strategy, and highlighted his advocacy for a cap on the share of infrastructure costs Dominion Energy ratepayers would pay.
Another question, about the Virginia Clean Economy Act's "reliability exception," was not directly answered by either candidate.
Criminal justice
Miyares introduced himself as "the people's protector," and much of his reelection campaign has centered around his career as a prosecutor.
"He wants to fight the fights in Washington," said Miyares of Jones, whom he has labeled soft on crime. "My interest is fighting the fights and putting the bad guys away out of our streets. That has been our record."
Asked about his criminal justice stances, Jones pointed to prosecuting illegal firearms and his public safety plan.
"We want to keep our community safe and get guns out of our communities, not flood them [with guns]," said Jones.
Another key difference between the candidates that each highlighted was on their approaches to criminal justice reform. Miyares dinged Jones for his support of an early release program that has had seen some beneficiaries reoffend.
Jones, when asked by the moderator about his support for the program, said he has "always believed that the primary job of any elected official at the federal, state or local level is to keep Virginia safe, and that is something that we are all committed to doing."
The two candidates also discussed immigration in the context of crime and public safety, though neither strayed from their respective party lines.
"Every state has become a border state. We have seen it in Virginia," Miyares said. "We've seen it by these transnational gangs like MS-13 and [Tren de Aragua]. They are ruthless. They are violent."
Jones indicated that local law enforcement is being dragged into federal immigration enforcement and pointed to due process violations in the course of that work.
"The overarching principle that I think we all can support and commit to," he said, "is that we have to protect civil rights and civil liberties here in this commonwealth."
My interest is fighting the fights and putting the bad guys away out of our streets.
Virginians' civil rights
Jones and Miyares were asked which specific types of discrimination they would prioritize as AG for investigation and enforcement.
Jones, after pointing to his family's roots in the Civil Rights Movement, spoke about abortion access, part of a proposed state constitutional amendment on reproductive rights that is likely to be sent to voters in 2026 if Democrats retain control of the House of Delegates next month.
"That is something that I look forward to protecting as attorney general. I am very, very worried about the prospect of Jason and his ability to do his job and defend that when it passes, because of his extreme record on abortion," he said.
When Miyares answered the question, he pointed to a housing case his office won that saw a $750,000 verdict awarded to two Virginia families who were racially discriminated against in Franklin County.
"I've always believed that the full fabric of our community has to cross the finish line together," said Miyares.
The candidates were not asked questions explicitly about LGBTQ+ Virginians, unlike last week's gubernatorial debate, though Miyares at a point shifted the conversation about women into one heavily critical of accommodations for transgender students in Virginia.
Watch Thursday's debate on YouTube
Copyright 2025 VPM News