Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) claimed on Sunday that he would not call for a Republican to drop out of a political race if texts surfaced in which said Republican had advocated for the assassination of a political opponent.
Kaine’s assertion – made to host Kristen Welker on NBC’s “Meet the Press” — comes against the backdrop of the scandal rocking the attorney general’s race in his home state. Democratic nominee Jay Jones, in texts sent three years earlier, had advocated violence against then state House Speaker Todd Gilbert and had even suggested that Gilbert would never change political positions unless he and his wife were forced to watch one of their young children die.
The Virginia Senator has condemned the text messages, but has argued more than once that he knows Jones well — and that on balance, he will not withdraw his endorsement.
WATCH:
Tim Kaine is asked if a Republican sent the same texts that Jay Jones did, would he call on them to drop out of the race?
Kaine: “Absolutely not.”
The insane Democrat lies and spin to cover for this deranged lunatic continue. pic.twitter.com/p48mpSyWMU
— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) October 19, 2025
Welker pressed Kaine on the issue, saying that critics wondered whether he would call for a Republican to drop out of the race if the shoe were on the other foot.
“Absolutely not,” Kaine declared. “It is — it’s directly equivalent to things that the Republican gubernatorial candidate has publicly said, not in private texts. ‘Murder is murder, and your time will come,’ she said that in a public meeting speaking about pro-choice activists. I’ve not called for her to drop out of the race.”
“The voters began voting in Virginia on September 19th,” Kaine continued. “These are fair items for voters to consider as they cast their vote, but no, we’re not calling for Republicans to drop out of races, we say apologize, you have to take account for your actions, and voters can look at the actions and look at your sincerity if you apologize. Apologies are in short supply in politics these days.”
Jones did offer an apology during his debate with Attorney General Jason Miyares (R-VA), but even Democrats were commenting at the time that it had fallen flat.
“Oooof. This Jay Jones sounds totally robotic and his apology and counter-responses totally FLAT. Then he pivoted to conventional, obvious, and typical Democrat attack lines against any generic Republican. His apology lacked any EMOTION whatsoever and just pivoted to Trump. This is a disaster,” Michael LaRosa, who served as spokesman for former First Lady Jill Biden observed.
Oooof. This Jay Jones sounds totally robotic and his apology and counter-responses totally FLAT. Then he pivoted to conventional, obvious, and typical Democrat attack lines against any generic Republican. His apology lacked any EMOTION whatsoever and just pivoted to Trump. This…
— Michael LaRosa (@MichaelLaRosaDC) October 16, 2025
Kaine has also taken some criticism for his repeated claim that he’s known Jones “for 25 years,” in large part because Jones is 36 years old — which means that Kaine is saying that he’s known the Democratic candidate since he was just 11 years old.
Jay Jones is 36 years old… So is Kaine saying he’s known him since he was 11? Anyone wanna follow up on this? https://t.co/upxez7awjF
— Joe Concha (@JoeConchaTV) October 8, 2025
The other comments Kaine referenced, that were made by Republican gubernatorial candidate Winsome Sears, also came from three years earlier. Speaking about pro-choice activists, Sears was making the argument that abortion was murder and that those who supported it would have to look themselves in the mirror and acknowledge that — she was not calling for anyone to be killed.
