NORFOLK, Va. — A former Virginia Delegate who represented part of Norfolk has officially announced on Tuesday his campaign to run for Virginia Attorney General next year.
The Democratic candidate Jay Jones said on Tuesday that his highest priority as attorney general will be "the safety and freedom of Virginia families."
In his statement on Tuesday, Jones said the current attorney general, Jason Miyares, "used his office to advance his own radical ideological agenda, not protect Virginians."
Jones also stated that the approaching Trump administration "threatens families with higher healthcare costs, higher prices, and hazards to our health" and that his administration would find Miyares to be "an eager accomplice."
Jones was first elected to represent the 89th District in 2017. In 2021, he ran an unsuccessful primary against then-Attorney General Mark Herring. Herring later lost the general election to Republican Jason Miyares, in a year when Republicans took control of both the House of Delegates and Virginia's top three statewide positions.
Jones resigned from the House of Delegates at the end of 2021 to focus on becoming a first-time father. He teased a possible run for attorney general in 2025 in his resignation announcement.
"Our work is not done and I intend to serve the people of Virginia for years to come. And that work may well mean a run for Attorney General in 2025," he wrote at the time.
In September, his staff told 13News Now that Jones still had plans for an AG run next year and had filed the paperwork to do so, but a formal announcement wouldn't be made until after this year's election in November.
Miyares posted on X that he disapproved of Jones and Shannon Taylor, the other current Democratic candidate for attorney general who announced her campaign in June.
"Both of the announced Democrat candidates for Attorney General are far-left, anti-police, criminal rights progressives who will make Virginia less safe," he posted. "They will support the same criminal first, victim last policies that lead to a surge in violent crime. Public safety demands we put victims over criminals. We aren’t going back to four years of lawlessness in Virginia."