BURSTVirginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears’s (R) gubernatorial campaign rolled out a new ad Wednesday tying her Democratic opponent, former Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.), to a string of violent text messages sent by Democratic attorney general nominee Jay Jones.
"Jay Jones says he wants to put two bullets in a political opponent," says a narrator opening the 30-second spot.
“Jones says he hopes an opponent's children die,” the narrator continues. “Now Spanberger continues to support Jones.”
Throughout the ad, footage of Spanberger saying “let your rage fuel you” is played. The ad wraps with a clip of Jones, Spanberger and Democratic lieutenant gubernatorial nominee Ghazala Hashmi campaigning, with the camera zooming in on Jones.
The ad is the second spot released by the Earle-Sears campaign tying Spanberger to the texting controversy.
Jones sent the texts about shooting former Virginia House Speaker Todd Gilbert (R) to Republican state Del. Carrie Coyner in 2022. The Democrat was not in elected office at the time.
Spanberger’s campaign was quick to make her displeasure with the news known, releasing a statement saying she had conveyed her “disgust” to Jones in a conversation. However, Republicans, including President Trump, were quick to argue that Spanberger did not go far enough in not calling on Jones to drop out of the race.
Earle-Sears and Virginia Republicans have sought to use Spanberger’s comment to “let your rage fuel you” to tie her to recent acts of political violence.
In the full quote, Spanberger calls on her supporters to let their rage fuel them to take part in political activism.
“Let your rage fuel you,” Spanberger said last month, according to local media. “The things that you think are wrong, these things that we want to improve, the things we want to make better ... that we want to see in Richmond, or that we want to see pushed back against in Washington. We have the ability here in Virginia to ensure that we set the stage for what’s to come.”