Will text message scandal derail Democratic success in Virginia election?

Virginia s vote is only a limited weeks away and the race for attorney general is drawing attention following the discovery of text messages sent in by Democratic nominee Jay Jones In the messages which lately resurfaced Jones described a hypothetical scenario in which he would kill then-Virginia House Speaker Todd Gilbert The messages were sent to Republican House of Delegates candidate Carrie Coyner At the time Jones wrote 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 Polling Since the discovery Jones has faced numerous calls from both Democrats and Republicans to drop out of the race Polls have also shown the margins tightening between him and Republican incumbent candidate Jason Miyares Kyle Kondik managing editor of Sabato s Crystal Ball from the University of Virginia Center for Politics explained whether or not Miyares is really leading in polls remains to be seen Related stories Are Virginia attorney general candidate Jay Jones old texts having an impact on voters decisions Va attorney general nominee apologizes for violent text messages about former GOP House Speaker Candidates in Virginia governor s debate clash over shutdown and violent rhetoric Virginia voter guide Early voting begins Friday for November voting process for governor delegates more I don t think we ve really gotten true nonpartisan polling of the race Since the news about Jay Jones came out there have been a limited polls including one from Jones campaign that presented Jones losing ground which makes sense I mean this is a huge story in Virginia politics Kondik stated Thursday s AG debate The candidates for attorney general are set to have their first and only debate on Thursday Kondik commented Miyares will likely try to ensure Jones text messages stay front and center in the minds of voters I think the key thing is what happens in this debate and does it either sustain or stall this story Kondik stated He also highlighted new advertisements incorporating the text messages from Jones Miyares has already run what I think are chosen pretty effective ads using this text messaging story against Jones And so he should be able to have specific sort of advantage on that down the stretch of the polling Kondik mentioned National politics and ticket splitting Despite the modern disagreement surrounding Jones Kondik mentioned the current political setting still favors Democrats in Virginia politics He also pointed to the polling in Virginia s race for governor which shows Democrat Abigail Spanberger leading Republican candidate Lt Gov Winsome Earle-Sears The challenge is I think it s still apparently a Democratic-leaning conditions overall in Virginia and nationally in Kondik mentioned I do think Abigail Spanberger is still favored in the governor s race and then the question is whether there are long enough coattails to allow Jones to win He explained ticket splitting has been on the decline in Virginia and it s a great test to see how potent ticket splitting is It s viable that Jones gets beat up on this story for the rest of the campaign but still is able to win just because of these bigger picture factors Kondik commented Source