Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares says he will ‘seek common ground’ in event of split ticket
Virginia could end up with Republican and Democratic leaders in top offices. Attorney General Jason Miyares says should that happen, he will seek “common ground.”
Democrat Abigail Spanberger holds a commanding lead over Republican Winsome Earle-Sears in Virginia’s governor’s race, and Democratic candidate Ghazala Hashmi has a slight edge over Republican John Reid for lieutenant governor.
But, Democratic challenger Jay Jones trails incumbent Attorney General Jason Miyares by a lot, according to recent polls, setting up the commonwealth for a split administration.
Miyares told WTOP’s Nick Iannelli that should that happen, he “would seek common ground.”
“Anybody who’s followed my career dating back to the General Assembly, I never got up and gave these crazy partisan speeches attacking people. I’m a firm believer — No. 1, stability is not weakness. That is one of my guide posts in my life,” Miyares said. “No. 2, your safety is my mission, Virginia, so I would seek common ground.”
Ticket splitting in Virginia used to be more common, but it’s been 20 years since voters elected a slate of three statewide officials from different parties, Virginia Mercury reported.
A survey conducted by Roanoke College from Oct. 22 to Oct. 27, found Spanberger ahead of Earle-Sears, the current lieutenant governor, by 10% among likely voters. Hashmi has a 2% lead over Reid, and Miyares leads by 8% over Jones.
Miyares said he heard from a Northern Virginia mother who said she was voting a straight Democratic ticket except for the office of attorney general.
“She said that anybody like Jay Jones that actually has advocated for violence should never be in that position,” Miyares said, referring to text messages Jones sent in 2022 hypothesizing about shooting then-Speaker of the House Todd Gilbert.
During the attorney general candidates’ debate, Jones apologized for the texts.
“Let me be very clear,” Jones said. “I am ashamed, I am embarrassed and I’m sorry.”
Miyares said Jones’ apology was “not sincere,” and that he’s since “disqualified himself.”
He added that Jones’ first statement when the text messages emerged was an attack on him and the words, “Like all people, I’ve sent text messages that I regret.”
Miyares said he’s looking forward to working with the General Assembly, as well as the governor, regardless of which party takes control of the legislative body or who lands in the governor’s mansion.
Listen to a portion of Miyares’ interview below.
Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares says he will seek ‘common ground’ in the event of a split ticket
WTOP’s Nick Iannelli contributed to this report.
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