The Prince William Democratic Women’s Caucus alongside dozens of high-profile racial, environmental, and economic justice groups across the Commonwealth have joined together to sponsor a series of public debates pertaining to the three upcoming statewide Democratic primary elections for Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and Attorney General in June 2021.

Last night, Virginia voters had a chance to meet Jay Jones of the Virginia House of Delegates, who is running in the primary for Attorney General against incumbent Attorney General Mark Herring who is seeking re-election. Attorney General Herring was not present during the evening’s discussion, allowing Jones to have the floor for the duration of the debate. 

Jones was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates in 2017 representing the 89th district in Norfolk, VA. Jones’ family has lived in Norfolk, Virginia since the early 20th century where his grandfather became the first Black member of the Norfolk City School Board until he was eventually appointed to the Virginia State Board of Education as the first Black member in the organization’s history. 

During the forum, Jones answered various questions regarding what he would advocate for if elected as Virginia’s Attorney General this Fall. Jones spoke about expanding Medicaid, working with the legislature to increase the state minimum wage, and provide teachers a raise in order to give working-class people a better quality of life. “Our public educators deserve more because they are the ones on the front lines working to shape our children’s futures”, Jones said. He also emphasized the importance of social justice reform, and in particular,  banning for-profit prisons. Jones believes that our tax dollars would be better spent rehabilitating people, instead of imprisoning them, especially for small infractions: “One mistake should not define the rest of your life. I believe that you should be able to recover from the civil system.”

Jones also hopes to work with the Democratic legislative majority to pass new legislation that holds police officers more accountable in the event of misconduct.“If an officer has done nothing wrong, they should have nothing to fear. We want to hold people accountable.”, Jones said. “We want to be able to give folks redress in the unfortunate event that something happens.” In Virginia, over the last eight years, the number of people of color arrested for minor infractions has gone up exponentially. He believes the past few years, more than ever, should be an awakening for all Americans that police brutality is a serious issue across our nation and our Commonwealth,  and that it will only improve if officers are continuously held accountable. 

You can view the upcoming Virginia People’s Lieutenant Governor Debate on March 11 at 7 PM at https://tinyurl.com/PeoplesDebateYouTube