Virginia Democrats are defending gubernatorial nominee Abigail Spanberger’s handling of a text scandal that has rocked the commonwealth less than a month out from the elections.

Over the weekend, the governor’s race was roiled by news that Democratic attorney general nominee Jay Jones had sent text messages expressing violence toward former Virginia House Speaker Todd Gilbert (R) back in 2022. Republicans have since used Jones’s comments, in which he suggested shooting Gilbert, to attack Spanberger amid a national reckoning over the rise of political violence.

Spanberger has repeatedly condemned the texts, but she notably refrained from calling on him to drop out during a Thursday night debate against GOP nominee Winsome Earle-Sears. Many Democrats see it as the right approach, even as Republicans step up their attacks over the controversy.

“She basically said, I’m accountable for my own words. She was very clear on that,” state House Speaker Don Scott (D) said in a post-debate interview. “She has vehemently denounced anything that he has said but she said she has to run her own race.”

The scandal took center stage at Thursday’s gubernatorial debate in Norfolk, with Earle-Sears, who repeatedly interrupted Spanberger throughout the night, immediately pressing her rival over the issue.

“Jay Jones advocated the murder of a man, a former Speaker, as well as his children,” Earle-Sears said. “What if he said it about your three children?”

The moderators also asked Spanberger if she still endorsed Jones, a question the Democrat repeatedly declined to answer........

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