Jay Jones, the Democratic nominee for the office of Virginia's attorney general, should immediately withdraw his nomination.

That's a tough thing for me to say, less than a month from Election Day and with early voting having already begun. But I feel it is necessary at this point, even if it means the Republican candidate would win.

Some old text messages from Jones surfaced late last week, and they are absolutely disqualifying for anyone seeking the office of the highest law enforcement officer in the state. Because they explicitly talk of Jones wishing for violence and death to not only a Republican politician, but also for the children of Republican politicians. As I said, to me this is nothing short of disqualifying.

The National Review broke the story and has the most complete versions of the entire text exchange (or you can see a few screenshots with slightly more text passages, most of which are incidental).

Initially, the text chain started as a mistake. Jones was guilty of not carefully checking who he was texting before he pressed "Send." But Jones continued on to say far, far worse things nonetheless (after he had realized his mistake), so even this is no excuse. See for yourself:

[Jay] Jones, who at the time had recently resigned from the state house after a brief stint representing Norfolk, had strong feelings about how the political class was eulogizing recently deceased former state legislator Joe Johnson Jr., a moderate Democrat with a long tenure in Virginia politics. Republican legislators like House Speaker Todd Gilbert had begun making public statements honoring Johnson's memory and political legacy, and some of those statements were making the rounds in state legislative group chats.

Around 8 A.M., Jones shared those feelings with his former state legislative colleague, Republican House Delegate Carrie Coyner. In a series of text messages obtained by National Review, Jones derided Johnson's political centrism and scoffed at the "glowing" tributes that were being made in his honor by Republicans in the wake of his death.

"Damn that was for mark," he wrote to Coyner, suggesting he'd meant to send the texts to someone else. And yet that realization didn't stop Jones from joking about what "that POS" Gilbert "would say about me if I died."

Then, the conversation took a dark turn.

"If those guys die before me," Jones wrote, referencing the Republican colleagues who were publicly honoring the deceased Johnson's memory, "I will go to their funerals to piss on their graves" to "send them out awash in something."

Jones then suggested that, presented with a hypothetical situation in which he had only two bullets and was faced with the choice of murdering then-Speaker of the House Todd Gilbert or two dictators, he'd shoot Gilbert "every time," prompting pushback from his former colleague:

[Jay Jones:]

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

[Carrie Coyner:]

Jay
Please stop

[Jones:]

Lol
Ok, ok

[Coyner:]

It really bothers me when you talk about hurting people or wishing death on them
It isn't ok
No matter who they are

. . .

Coyner's alarm at her former colleague's violent rhetoric toward Gilbert prompted Jones to call her and explain his reasoning over the phone, a source familiar with the exchange told National Review.

According to the source, the Democratic former legislator doubled down on the call, saying the only way public policy changes is when policymakers feel pain themselves, like the pain that parents feel when they watch their children die from gun violence. He asked her to provide counterexamples to disprove his claim.

Then at one point, the source said, he suggested he wished Gilbert's wife could watch her own child die in her arms so that Gilbert might reconsider his political views, prompting Coyner to hang up the phone in disgust.

Afterward, Jones continued his barrage of text messages, saying he was just asking questions. Coyner dismissed his excuse via text and chastised Jones for "hopping [sic] Jennifer Gilbert's children would die."

Rather than deny that he had wished death on the children, Jones responded by saying, "Yes, I've told you this before. Only when people feel pain personally do they move on policy."

Faced with more pushback from his frazzled former colleague, Jones somehow took the conversation a step further: "I mean do I think Todd and Jennifer are evil? And that they're breeding little fascists? Yes," he wrote, referring to Gilbert's wife and two young children.

Please remember, in all of this, Jones knew he was texting a Republican. It wasn't some sort of "Democratic locker-room humor" situation. He can't even plausibly claim to have been drunk, since it was eight in the morning, not some late-night rant. And even if you assume he was trying to be lighthearted and somehow just joking around, the texts are still just as fundamentally disqualifying for someone seeking to be the highest law enforcement officer in the state. Sure, texting lacks both tone and nuance, meaning something that was typed jokingly can easily be taken the wrong way. But that's no excuse either. He was texting a Republican. He should have known it might come back to bite him someday.

It's not just a case of: "In today's atmosphere of political violence, this is wrong." To me, it is wrong no matter what the political situation in America currently is. Jokes about shooting a political rival -- who is worse than Hitler or Pol Pot -- are unacceptable no matter when they happen. And jokes about a political rival's wife watching her own child "die in her arms" are absolutely unacceptable, no matter what political point he was trying to make (about gun violence or gun control policies or whatever).

Jones didn't do himself any favors with his immediate response to the story, either. Here is the statement he put out, referencing his Republican opponent in the race:

Like all people, I've sent text messages that I regret and I believe that violent rhetoric has no place in our politics. Let's be clear about what is happening in the Attorney General race right now: Jason Miyares is dropping smears through Trump-controlled media organizations to assault my character and rescue his desperate campaign. This is a strategy that ensures Jason Miyares will continue to be accountable to Donald Trump, not the people of Virginia. This race is about whether Trump can control Virginia or Virginians control Virginia.

Not exactly a shining example of remorse, is it?

Since then, he has been more contrite, to be fair.

But at this point it doesn't matter. Disqualifying is disqualifying, no matter what damage control you attempt afterwards.

What would happen if Jones did withdraw his nomination isn't totally clear. Some early-voting ballots have already been cast. And it seems like it is far too late to reprint the other ones. The Washington Post did point out the possibility, but without any specifics as to how it would work:

A former Virginia election official said [Jim] Jones could theoretically withdraw and the party could nominate a replacement. It is unclear what would happen to the votes already cast. And because the ballots are already set, there'd have to be a notice at polling places, according to the former official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

Virginia code says, "Should the nominee of any party die, withdraw, or have his nomination set aside for any reason, the party may nominate to fill the vacancy in accordance with its own rules."

Up until this scandal hit, Jones had a slight lead (six points). That's not as big a lead as the Democratic gubernatorial candidate currently has in the polling, but it might have been enough to win. But is winning truly everything?

Since Virginia doesn't run "slate" elections, it is entirely possible that a Democrat wins the governor's office while a Republican wins the A.G.'s office. Which would mean that the state wouldn't be suing the Trump administration over anything in the foreseeable future, obviously. This is a serious drawback, but then again there are other Democratic states out there to take up the slack (unless Trump sends soldiers into Richmond or something).

So while I realize that that might wind up being the outcome -- it'd be hard to see any other candidate stepping in and winning such a race, really, at such a late date -- I still have to hold to my initial reaction to reading this story: Jay Jones must withdraw his candidacy. For decency's sake, for the Democratic Party's sake, and for the sake of drawing a very firm line against political violence even being considered an acceptable topic of conversation. Even if it means the Republican wins.

-- Chris Weigant

Follow Chris on Twitter: @ChrisWeigant