Attorney General Jason Miyares attacked 2025 Democratic attorney general candidates in a social media post on Tuesday. The statement comes on the day former Del. Jay Jones, D-Norfolk, announced his candidacy. Henrico Commonwealth Attorney Shannon Taylor has previously announced her candidacy.
“Both of the announced Democrat candidates for Attorney General are far-left, anti-police, criminal rights progressives who will make Virginia less safe. They will support the same criminal first, victim last policies that lead to a surge in violent crime,” he wrote on social media. “Public safety demands we put victims over criminals. We aren’t going back to four years of lawlessness in Virginia.”
Miyares has not announced whether he will run for reelection next year. There have been rumors that he might run for governor, but his office did not provide any clarity on his intentions when asked Tuesday.
“The statement speaks for itself,” his spokesperson Shaun Kenney said.
“Shannon is proud of her more than decade-long record of keeping Henrico safe in a fair and just way,” a Taylor campaign spokesperson said Tuesday afternoon in response to the Miyares post.
Taylor later posted a statement on social media Monday night directly responding to Miyares.
“Given that I am the only one of the three people referenced in your post (including yourself) who has actually dedicated her career to keeping our community safe and putting dangerous criminals behind bars, your right-wing talking points are misdirected,” she wrote.
Reporting from the Richmond Times-Dispatch in August shows that violent crime is down 18% in Henrico this year.
Taylor has been the commonwealth attorney in Henrico since 2012.
Jones also chose not to respond directly to the statement from Miyares.
“You’ll have to ask him why he said that,” Jones said during a press conference in Richmond Tuesday. “We are focused on this campaign. Whatever he says and whatever he tweets out, that’s him and his campaign’s business.”