Following the Jay Jones texting scandal, there were significant concerns about its impact—not just concerning his candidacy for attorney general, but also on the races for governor and lieutenant governor.
Recent polling, released on Saturday, suggests that the scandal indeed had an effect. But before diving into those numbers, it’s important to revisit another poll that strongly suggested the scandal’s negative impact on Jones.
As reported by RedState, early indications showed the scandal damaging Jones, ultimately benefiting GOP Attorney General Jason Miyares. On October 8th, the Jones campaign unveiled internal polling results—just five days after the text messages surfaced—indicating a narrow lead of only one point, which is essentially a tie. Given that internal polls often tend to favorably skew towards the candidate they represent, Jones was likely trailing at that point, reminiscent of the situation surrounding McAuliffe’s 2021 downfall.
