After Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares squared off against Jay Jones on the debate stage Thursday, Miyares appeared on Fox News to blast his Democrat opponent.

“If Jay Jones was applying to be a line prosecutor in my attorney general’s office — in fact, any attorney general’s office in all 50 states — he wouldn’t pass the background check for the job,” Miyares said on America Reports.

During Thursday’s debate, Miyares repeatedly brought up text messages that Jones sent in 2022 in which he wished death on former Virginia House of Delegates Speaker Todd Gilbert, said Gilbert and his wife were “breeding little fascists,” and claimed he would like to “piss” on Republican graves, among other horrifying statements.

“I’m ashamed, I’m embarrassed, and I’m sorry,” Jones said on the debate stage — to which Miyares responded that if he were truly sorry, he would not be running for attorney general.

Miyares also brought up the fact that in 2022, Jones was convicted of reckless driving for going 116 mph in a 70 mph zone — but essentially walked for it.

“There were four people in court that day, all going around the same speed,” Miyares said on Fox News. “Three of those four people got active or suspended jail time. The only person that didn’t was Jay Jones because he’s a politician, and then he did the community service hours…for his own political action committee, which obviously isn’t a charity.”

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According to data reviewed by 7News, Jones appears to have been handled with kid gloves by the court system in the Commonwealth of Virginia, and others who committed similar infractions have faced much steeper consequences.

Reporter Nick Minock found that others who were convicted of similar speeding infractions — in approximately a dozen cases — often faced jail time in addition to fines and suspended licenses.

The text scandal appears to have moved the needle significantly in the race for Virginia attorney general. In polls from June to late September, Jones was leading Miyares consistently, but after the scandal broke, polling has shifted with Miyares now 0.3% ahead of Jones, according to the RealClearPolitics polling average.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Abigail Spanberger has also come under pressure due to the fallout from the texts. Her opponent, Virginia Lt. Governor Winsome Earle-Sears, released a scathing ad featuring Spanberger refusing to comment when confronted with Jones’ remarks.

Virginia Kruta contributed to this report.

WASHINGTON—A bill to honor a prominent Cuban anti-communist has bipartisan congressional support.

Cory Booker isn’t having it.

The New Jersey Democrat blocked a bill that would rename the street outside the Cuban Embassy after the late anti-communist Cuban activist Oswaldo Payá. Payá, who founded the Christian Liberation Movement in the 1980s, died in a 2021 car crash, that the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights determined to be an intentional act by the Cuban government against Payá, according to the New York Times.

The bill to name the street “Oswaldo Payá Way” in his honor has been introduced multiple times, most recently by Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL). Cruz described the late activist as a “Cuban dissident who fought against the communist regime and who stood up and fought for free speech for democracy and for human rights. He was a thorn in the side of the Cuban communist regime his entire life.”

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Booker called Payá an “extraordinary hero” who should be honored, but said it should be up to the Washington, D.C. City Council to rename the street.

“His work should be recognized more by our nation, and I would support the D.C. Council, their elected representatives, if it decided through their democratic process to work with the senator and the Democratic sponsor to rename the street,” Booker said on the Senate floor on Wednesday.

“My objection is simply right now about Washington, D.C.’s, right to control their own local affairs. This objection is about home rule and self-governance. Now it is true, as my colleague said, that this has passed through this chamber multiple times,” the Democrat continued.

Cruz, whose family fled Cuba’s communist regime, rebutted Booker’s argument. The Texas Republican said Booker’s opposition is simply about opposing President Donald Trump, who faced Democratic pushback for the federal law enforcement surge in the nation’s capital.

“The purpose here is to put pressure on the Cuban Communist regime, and naming the street does that. Now, Mr. President, as I pointed out, Sen. Booker voted for this identical legislation just two years ago, this bipartisan legislation that leads to the obvious question, what has changed?” Cruz said on the floor.

“And one thing has changed. The resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, when Senator Booker voted for this bipartisan legislation, Joe Biden was the president. Today, Donald J. Trump is the president, and unfortunately, our Democrat colleagues have decided bipartisan cooperation is no longer something they’re interested in. Their party is instead unified behind one principle, which is that they hate Donald J. Trump,” the Republican continued.

Booker, who recently broke the record for the longest-ever Senate floor speech, has a history of grand political gestures.