I’d missed out completely on the moral equivalence game being played by Virginia Democrats with the Jay Jones texts fantasizing about two bullets for Todd Gilbert being weighed against Winsome Earle-Sears wishing “murder” on women who have had abortions.
“When you are willing to kill a child up until the day that the baby could be born, go get thee a mirror and ask yourself if you’re OK with this kind of thing. I don’t care whether you’re Libertarian, Democrat, Reform Party, Green, I don’t care who you are. Murder is murder, and one day it’s going to be your turn.”
That was Earle-Sears, the MAGA nominee for governor, said in a 2022 interview, which is now getting fresh attention because it was unearthed last week by the progressive news outlet Meidas Touch.
EXCLUSIVE: Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears in a 2022 interview warned supporters of reproductive rights that “one day it’s going to be your turn.”
“Murder is murder. And one day it’s going to be your turn.” pic.twitter.com/975Hb6F1Ef
— MeidasTouch (@MeidasTouch) October 8, 2025
As it turns out, the interview in question was with John Reid, the guy running for lieutenant governor on the MAGA ticket with Earle-Sears, back when he was just MAGA radio host John Reid, and not Nazi porn-loving candidate for state office that Winsome Earle-Sears ignores guy John Reid.
I had an email in my inbox from the Abigail Spanberger campaign announcing a TV ad built around this quote, and just overlooked it, because the subject line on the email – “Winsome Earle-Sears Makes Disturbing Comments on Reproductive Rights” – was rather vague.
Emails from campaigns accusing the other side of making “disturbing comments” are a dime a dozen.
Pro tip: highlight that the other side wishes “murder” on people they don’t like, and you’ll get more attention.
I digress.
What got this into my view was U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine talking today on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” and being asked to address the Jay Jones texts issue, and his thoughts on whether Jones, the Democratic Party nominee for attorney general, should “drop out of the race.”
For context, my take on that was, and is, yes – and sorry if that offends, because I don’t want another four years of Jason Miyares wasting our tax dollars on frivolous pro-Trump lawsuits, either.
But wishing death on a political rival, and bringing his kids into it, is disgusting – and Jones had to know that the texts in question had been making their way around Virginia political circles the past three years, and he subjected us to this anyway.
That was the sorta, kinda point that Kaine made today on “Meet the Press,” to the degree that, I wonder if Kaine has read my online musings raising the issue with Jones on that.
“Republicans knew about these texts for years. They waited until the ballot was printed, and they waited until hundreds of thousands of people had already voted beginning on Sept. 19th,” Kaine said, which, OK, isn’t exactly the point that I was making, even if it’s in the vicinity.
Kaine is making it more out to be that Republicans did something wrong using the texts against Jones, when the real issue has to be, Jones knowing these texts were floating around, and letting his ambition put us in an untenable position.
Kaine, as an elected, and a de facto party leader, can’t necessarily just say that, like I can as, I’m just a writer.
“The voters will make up their minds about these texts,” Kaine said, then pivoted to: “The voters have to make up their minds in our governor’s race. The Republican gubernatorial candidate spoke about pro-choice activists and said, ‘Murder is murder, and your time will come.’ The voters have to grapple with that.”
Which, yes, they do.
Let me add: I admire the pivot.
Flawless.
Follow-up question from “Meet the Press” host Kristen Welker: “If this were a Republican, would you be calling for him to drop out of the race?”
Kaine:
“Absolutely not. 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.”
This is where the double standard for MAGAs that we progressives loathe comes to play.
A Democrat says something awful, and it’s disqualifying; a Republican says something awful, and it’s not.
What I’m about to say may be the result of me having a richer perspective on MAGA thinking due to living and doing business in a media market that went 63.3 percent for Donald Trump a year ago, but …
Winsome Earle-Sears saying abortion is “murder” is raw meat for the MAGA base.
I’m related by blood and marriage to people who fervently believe this, and who will see the Spanberger TV spot highlighting Earle-Sears saying this to John Reid, and the only thing that will bother them about her saying it to John Reid is, John Reid is gay.
Based on the emails I got from readers after I weighed in on the Jay Jones death wish texts, I know I’m not alone among progressives who aren’t happy with having to make a Sophie’s choice in the AG race because Jay Jones desperately wants to be AG.
I know full well that, as Kaine seemed to be conceding today on “Meet the Press,” we’re stuck with Jay Jones, because the ballots are long since printed, early voting has been under way for a month.
I’m going to end up voting for the jerk, Jay Jones, and it’s my hope that we figure out a way to not swear the jerk in as AG.
I don’t want to hear about, well, the other side does this all the time, why do we hold ourselves to a higher standard?
Speaking just for myself, life comes down to, always do the right thing.
I’m voting for Abigail Spanberger, because she’ll be part of moving Virginia back in the right direction.
And I’ll be voting against Jason Miyares, because four more years of Jason Miyares as AG means four more years of wasting our taxpayer dollars on frivolous pro-Trump lawsuits aimed at keeping us from being able to move in the right direction.
To vote against Jason Miyares, I have to fill in the oval for Jay Jones.
It seems doable to me that we run Miyares off into the political sunset, appoint somebody to serve as an interim in the AG office, and do it all again in a special election in November 2026.
That’s what I’m voting for.
Not the jerk with a death wish.
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Chris Graham
