The legacy Sunday shows appear to have taken a collective vow of omertà regarding coverage of what would have been treated as an immediate disqualifier had a Republican done something similar. The hosts of these shows shut out any discussion of Democrat Virginia Attorney General candidate Jay Jones as he fantasized about murdering a political opponent and his family in a series of text messages.
For context and an idea of what was omitted from the Sunday shows, watch coverage of the scandal as aired on Fox News Live on Saturday, October 4th, 2025:
MIKE EMANUEL: Disturbing developments in Virginia's attorney general race as the Democratic nominee Jay Jones is apologizing for text messages obtained by Fox News where he spoke about violent fantasies against then-Virginia Speaker Republican Todd Gilbert. Madison Scarpino is live with this story. Hi, Madison.
MADISON SCARPINO: Hi, Mike. Jones is running to be Virginia's chief legal officer, but his resurfaced text messages from 2022 are alarming people on both sides of the aisle. So to give viewers some background: a Virginia delegate had just passed away and people were pouring in tributes, including then-Virginia House Speaker Todd Gilbert. Well, that led to the attorney general candidate Jones texting Republican Delegate Carri Coyner, saying some pretty foul things about Gilbert. So here are just some of the texts. You can see Coyner tries to stop Jones from what he's saying and he goes on to say, quote: “three people, two bullets.Gilbert, Hitler and Pol Pot. Gilbert gets two bullets to the head. Spoiler: put Gilbert in the crew with the two worst people you know and he receives both bullets every time.” After all this came to light yesterday, Coyner tells Fox what Jones said was not just disturbing, but also disqualifying for anyone who wants to seek public office. But he’s not dropping out of the race as of now. In a statement, Jones says in part, quote: “I take full responsibility for my actions and I want to issue my deepest apology to Speaker Gilbert and his family. Reading back those words made me sick to my stomach. I am embarrassed, ashamed, and sorry.” Virginia Delegate Geary Higgins says that he was shocked to see all of this. He's been a victim of politically-charged death threats himself, and says Jones' behavior is completely unacceptable.
GEARY HIGGINS: He needs to step down and go get himself straightened out because this is just not- not acceptable in a civilized society.
SCARPINO: And now the Democrat nominee for the Virginia governor's race is Abigail Spanberger and she says that she spoke frankly with Jones about her disgust over those text messages, but she has not yet called for him to drop out of the race. Mike.
EMANUEL: Considering political violence in recent months and years…
SCARPINO: Yeah.
EMANUEL: …a very disturbing story. Madison, thanks very much.
SCARPINO: Thanks, Mike.
