Attorney and former state delegate Jerrauld C. “Jay” Jones is running again for state attorney general, announcing his decision Tuesday afternoon at events in Norfolk and Richmond.

“Our security and freedom have always depended on people willing to fight for them,” Jones said as he addressed a crowd of about 40 people at the Maggie L. Walker Memorial Plaza. “Now is our moment to hold tightly to hope and together, we can protect and strengthen the future of every Virginian.”

The announcement made Jones’ campaign official, months after filing the necessary paperwork for his candidacy.

This will be his second run for the position, following a loss to incumbent Mark Herring for the 2021 Democratic nomination.

Jones’ campaign follows multiple terms in the House of Delegates, which he stepped down from in 2021, and one year as an assistant attorney general in the D.C. attorney general’s consumer protection department. An attorney with a long family history in state politics, he would be the first African American to serve as attorney general if elected. 

Jones positioned himself as an attorney general who would listen to and protect Virginia’s families, children and most vulnerable, address illegal guns, drug traffickers and child predators, and combat corporate crimes such as pollution, price gouging and predatory lending.

With a wide range of changes expected when Donald Trump returns to the White House, Jones also declared his intent to challenge any efforts to dismantle or end the Affordable Care Act and expressed his full support for abortion rights.

Jones also sought to tie Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares to Trump, accusing him of using his office “to attack Virginians’ freedoms, pander to the fringes of his own party and side with corporate price-gougers and polluters at the cost of Virginia’s families.”

“We need an attorney general who’s focused on keeping Virginians safe, not a personal, partisan political agenda,” Jones said.

Jones joins the race for the Democratic nomination alongside Henrico County Commonwealth’s Attorney Shannon Taylor. Miyares hasn’t said if he will run again, but made his thoughts on his potential opponents clear hours after Jones’ announcement in Norfolk.

“Both of the announced Democrat candidates for attorney general are far-left, anti-police, criminal rights progressives who will make Virginia less safe,” Miyares wrote in a social media post. “Public safety demands we put victims over criminals. We aren’t going back to four years of lawlessness in Virginia.”

“You’ll have to ask him why he said that,” said Jones when asked his thoughts on Miyares’ statement. “We’re focused on this campaign.”

The primary for the 2025 Virginia elections will be held Tuesday, July 17.