This story was reported and written by VPM News.
Jay Jones took swift action after taking the oath of office on Saturday and becoming the Commonwealth of Virginia's 49th attorney general.
The Democrat joined on to several existing state lawsuits against President Donald Trump's administration and reversed several opinions issued by his Republican predecessor. It's all part of fulfilling a campaign promise, which was that he'd push back against federal overreach.
Jones is a 36-year-old attorney from Norfolk. He served as a delegate representing that area and worked as an assistant attorney general before his election to become Virginia's first Black attorney general.
He spoke with VPM News reporter Billy Shields in Richmond shortly before Saturday's historic inauguration. During their conversation, Jones previewed his priorities, how he plans to address affordability and how he will respond to the Trump administration.
This interview has been lightly edited for style and clarity.
Billy Shields: You've been a state lawmaker and an assistant attorney general. You're on a historic winning ticket, and you're about to make some history of your own as the state's first Black attorney general.
What does this mean to you?
Jay Jones: The weight of this responsibility is not lost on me as the first Black attorney general in the 407-year history of Virginia. But what is most important right now is to get to work for the people of Virginia. They delivered a resounding message in November: They will not stand for federal overreach and they want to put Virginia first.
I'm excited to get to work with the team of talented individuals who we've assembled, who are ready to make this office the best in the country, to put Virginia first, to make sure that we are returning money to folks' pockets, defending from federal overreach, and using this office in a way that it should be — that it hasn't for the last four years.
What do the first 100 days in office look like for you?
We are going to join lawsuits in conjunction with some other states to protect Virginia's interests and our values and our resources: protecting those federal employees who were laid off in mass in 2025, to make sure that we protect our education funding, and to make sure that we make Virginia the most affordable place possible by suing to maintain the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
That, among many other things, we are looking at and assessing over the first few weeks in office, to make sure that there aren't any landmines. That we know what the previous administration has gotten ourselves into that may be in opposition to the values of Virginians.
We're going to be very aggressive. We're going to be delivering on those campaign promises, and I'm really excited about the work that lies ahead so that we can get Virginia back on track.
The weight of the awesome responsibility that the people of Virginia have placed in me is never lost on me at any point.
Governor-elect Abigail Spanberger says that affordability is going to be one of the big priorities when she takes office.
As attorney general, how do you think you can facilitate that?
We'll work in conjunction with Governor-elect Spanberger, but we also recently announced the creation of a new division in the Attorney General's Office — the Public Advocacy Division — where all of our affirmative litigation will live.
They will be really focused on delivering on the promises that we talked about all through the fall, about putting money back in people's pockets, to ramp up our consumer protection activities in this office, so that we are returning that money to our citizens — that we are protecting their interests.
And, I think as we contend with this federal overreach from President Trump, we can also find ways to put more money back into Virginians' pockets. That has been our mission all along, and that's what we'll really focus on as we get started here.
You're walking into office as a Democrat with a unified Virginia Senate and House. How do you expect to work with the General Assembly during your term?
What are some laws that you think you might recommend changing or rolling back?
I'm excited about the trifecta that is now happening here in Virginia with Governor-elect Spanberger and the Democratic majorities in the General Assembly. Again, the resounding message that voters sent back in November was that they were listening to our message about affordability. They were listening to our message about defending against the excesses and overreach from Washington.
I look forward to working with the governor and the General Assembly to advance interests that Virginians share, from corner to corner. That focuses on affordability. It focuses on housing. It focuses on contending for and protecting our rights.
We will have a lot of work ahead of us and a big job ahead of us, but we're excited to hit the ground running. We've got a very, very talented team, and I look forward to enforcing the laws on the books as attorney general of Virginia, and working with the General Assembly and the governor to get that done.
How many of Republican Attorney General Jason Miyares' actions do you plan on rolling back or overturning?
I think the major overarching thing that we've heard from Virginians since the election, and even before, is that they don't feel safe. They don't feel secure in their communities, and that is the most important job of any leader in elected office: to keep our community safe. And as attorney general, that's what I'll be focused on for these next four years.
We will do a full assessment of all of the things that my predecessor has done to make sure that those are in line with what we've been talking about in terms of protecting Virginia's interests. We will do that aggressively over the first 30 days, and I look forward to getting to work to do that.
I think there are obviously some very clear differences between how he operated and what we will do. But for me, at the end of the day, it's always been about protecting Virginians: not just in their communities and keeping them safe, but from the excesses and overreach of the Trump administration, to make sure that we're protecting their pocketbooks.
That's the job that I was elected to do, and that's what my team and I will do very, very vigorously over these next four years.
Are there lawsuits that you plan to get into or get out of when you're in office?
We are very excited about the opportunity to join lawsuits that have already been initiated by other states across the country, because their attorneys general have been fighting for their citizens. And I think, as many people know, the US Supreme Court ruled that when you are not party to a lawsuit, you don't get to share in the benefits of those remedies.
We want to make sure we avail ourselves of those protections, especially as it relates to education funding and health care and, particularly, as it relates to affordability. Those are some of the lawsuits that we will seek to join immediately, and we'll be conducting a full review over these first 30 days about what lawsuits that we should join, or initiate ourselves or take ourselves out of.
I think we have to do a lot of work to make sure that the previous administration hasn't agreed to things with the federal government that have given away our rights and our freedoms here in Virginia in exchange for something that may not be in line with what the folks of Virginia are looking for. That will be something that we'll be working really hard on, especially in the first month or two.
Your campaign season was somewhat turbulent: revelations about a reckless driving situation, and revelations about text messages that were controversial.
What do you plan to do to reassure Virginians who might have reservations about your judgment?
The weight of the awesome responsibility that the people of Virginia have placed in me is never lost on me at any point. And I look forward to getting to work for them every single day to protect them from the federal overreach that we've seen since Donald Trump came back into office, to make sure that we're putting Virginia first.
I'm excited to join some of these lawsuits that really will have an immediate impact on folks here in Virginia, and to reorient this office to work to meet the needs of Virginians from corner to corner right now.
It's exactly why we've announced the creation of the Public Advocacy Division where all of our affirmative matters will sit — whether it be civil rights, housing, antitrust, insurance — all of the things that really can impact people in this moment when the economy is tough.
And working in conjunction with Governor-elect Spanberger and the General Assembly to deliver on our promises as it relates to affordability will be what we continue to focus on in these first few months. That's what voters talked about over the course of the campaign, and that's the message that they sent in November.
Put yourself in the shoes of Virginians who are hearing you speak for the first time.
What is one message that you hope you could give them today, that you'd hope they'd hear?
This office has always belonged to the people of Virginia, and we ran to return it to you. And that every single day, my team and I will be working to make sure that we're doing right by Virginians and doing the best we can to make sure that we're meeting the challenges that they are facing in this moment.
Because this is what it's all about. We heard them loud and clear over the course of the campaign. And we're looking forward to getting to work, to restoring trust and to making sure that they know that we're here for them every single day, using the full weight of this office to make their lives better.
What does success look like for you?
Success for me looks like having Virginians in a place where it's more affordable, to make sure that we've used our office to get that done. We've kept communities safe, working with state and local law enforcement to get that job done and to make sure that we protected Virginia, our jobs, our health care, our economy from the excess and overreach that we've seen from Washington.
That's the stuff that we heard over and over again in this campaign, and we want to be responsive. We want to be dynamic, and we want to be reflexive to the needs of the people in Virginia.
And then if we can do that over the course of the four years, I'll consider that a major win.
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