CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – Lt. Governor Winsome Earle-Sears, the Republican nominee for governor, is calling on Democratic candidate for Attorney General Jay Jones to drop out of the race after the revelation that Jones sent violent text messages to a fellow state delegate in 2022.

According to messages reported by The National Review, Jones texted Republican House Delegate Carrie Coyner that if he had two bullets and the chance to shoot then-House Speaker Todd Gilbert or two dictators, “Gilbert gets two bullets to the head.”

When Coyner pushed back on the comment, Jones later told her, “Only when people feel pain personally do they move on policy.”

The texting occurred after Jones, who had just resigned his House seat, was complaining about Speaker Gilbert and other Republicans eulogizing the death of moderate former Democratic Delegate Joe Johnson.

The texts speculated what they would say about him if he died, and that if Gilbert and others died before Jones, that Jones would urinate on their graves.

The National Review report said Jones and Coyner had a conversation after the text exchange in which he suggested the only way Gilbert’s views opposing stricter gun control would change would be if Gilbert’s own family became the victims of gun violence.

“I take full responsibility for my actions, and I want to issue my deepest apology to Speaker Gilbert and his family,” Jones said in a statement. “Reading back those words made me sick to my stomach. I am embarrassed, ashamed, and sorry. I have reached out to Speaker Gilbert to apologize directly to him, his wife Jennifer, and their children. I cannot take back what I said; I can only take full accountability and offer my sincere apology.

“Virginians deserve honest leaders who admit when they are wrong and own up to their mistakes. This was a grave mistake and I will work every day to prove to the people of Virginia that I will fight for them as Attorney General.”

Sears, in her call for him dropping out of the race, called Jones, “the poster child for the Democrat establishment and he fantasizes about murdered little children laying lifeless in their mother’s arms.”

The text scandal emerges as Republicans have attempted to paint comments by Democratic nominee for governor Abigail Spanberger, in which she asks voters to “let your rage fuel you” this campaign season, as an incitement of violence.

At a campaign appearance earlier this year, Spanberger talked about rage as motivation “to write more post cards, knock more doors, make more phone calls, tell more friends about the importance of this election.”

Spanberger released a statement Friday in which she blasted the text messages but did not revoke her support for Jones.

“After learning of these comments earlier today, I spoke frankly with Jay about my disgust with what he had said and texted,” the statement reads. “I made clear to Jay that he must fully take responsibility for his words. What I have also made clear is that as a candidate — and as the next Governor of our Commonwealth, I will always condemn violent language in our politics.”

Polls in the last two months have consistently shown Spanberger with a sizeable lead over Earle-Sears, but the down-ballot races for lieutenant governor and attorney general are much tighter.

Jones’ campaign to unseat incumbent Jason Miyares, particularly, has been faltering. First, a report emerged that Jones had been charged with reckless driving in 2022 for driving 46 miles over the speed limit on Interstate 64. According to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Jones performed 1,000 hours of community service, with 500 of those being done for his own political action committee.