Jay Jones projected to win Democratic nomination for Virginia attorney general

The former state delegate will now face Republican incumbent Attorney General Jason Miyares in November’s general election.

Jay Jones won the Democratic nomination Tuesday night for Virginia’s attorney general after a primary campaign where he focused on resisting President Donald Trump’s policies. 

“To the Democrats across the Commonwealth who supported this campaign, I am honored to accept your nomination for Attorney General,” Jones said in an email statement. “I am ready for this fight and to win this November.”

Jones, a lawyer and former state delegate from Norfolk, told Dogwood earlier in the day that people are ready for state leadership that fights back against the Trump administration. 

“We have what it takes to go win in November, to get Virginia back on track, to stand up to the excesses and overreach of the Trump administration, and get Virginia going in the right direction,” Jones said between greeting voters outside the polling place at First Mount Zion Baptist Church in Prince William County.

 

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Jones beat Shannon Taylor, the Commonwealth’s Attorney for Henrico County, to secure the nomination. He won with 51% of the vote. Critics had attacked Taylor for accepting campaign contributions from Dominion Energy, while Jones did not take any money from the company. 

“I don’t believe that someone who should be regulating and enforcing the laws against this company, a utility monopoly, should be taking the money,” Jones said of Dominion. “That’s something that’s been my record for a long time.”

It was Jones’ second primary run to be the Democratic nominee for Virginia attorney general. He lost a 2021 bid to then-incumbent Mark Herring, who went on to lose in the general election to Virginia’s current attorney general Miyares. 

Jones will square off with Miyares, who faced no primary challenger, for the job in the fall. The state Democratic party chairman, Lamont Bagby, said Jones has a proven track record of defending civil rights. 

“He’s exactly the kind of leader Virginians need as Attorney General—someone who will protect Virginians, stand up to Donald Trump and Republicans’ dangerous agenda, and fight to create a safer Commonwealth,” Bagby said in an email statement.