Jason Miyares’s Far-Right Record Is Dangerous For Virginia 

From the Democratic Party of Virginia:

Jason Miyares’s Far-Right Record Is Dangerous For Virginia 

Richmond, VA — Republican Delegate Jason Miyares announced today that he is running for Attorney General of Virginia, but his votes against Medicaid expansion and critical gun safety and criminal justice reform legislation this year mean that his extreme ideas would be a disaster for Virginians.

In the midst of a deadly pandemic, nearly 500,000 Virginians have affordable health care thanks to the Commonwealth’s Medicaid expansion. The health and economic security provided by Medicaid coverage has meant that Virginia – like other states that expanded Medicaid – is better equipped to weather the public health crisis and recession caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. But Delegate Miyares voted against expanding Medicaid in 2018, breaking with other Republicans to deny working families affordable health care. 

This year, with polls showing an overwhelming bipartisan majority of Virginians supporting common sense gun safety legislation in the wake of the tragic 2019 Virginia Beach shooting, legislators in the General Assembly put forward bills to address the epidemic of gun violence in the Commonwealth. But Miyares, who received a 100% rating from the far-right Virginia Citizens Defense League, voted against these common sense measures. Miyares voted against a universal background checks bill, rejected the red flag bill, opposed the one handgun per month rule, and voted against a bill to let localities impose their own gun restrictions. 

Later this year, with millions of people across the country joining a movement to demand criminal justice reforms in the wake of tragic police murders of Black Americans, the General Assembly voted on a series of important reform measures. Miyares opposed nearly all of them.

He voted against a bill to prevent no-knock search warrants, a bill to reduce the amount of military equipment available to police departments, a bill to create minimum training standards for law enforcement officers, a bill that requires officers to intervene if they see another officer engaging in the use of excessive force, and others. At a time when Virginians across the Commonwealth are calling out for criminal justice reform, Miyares ignored them and stuck to his extreme right-wing record. 

“With Virginians’ health and safety on the line, Jason Miyares voted with the most extreme members of his party, opposing bill after bill that would prevent gun violence, stop brutal injustices in our criminal justice system, and provide affordable health care to hundreds of thousands of Virginians. Our Commonwealth needs an Attorney General committed to ensuring justice and safety for everyone in Virginia, not preserving the status quo that is leaving too many behind. Miyares’s far-right record isn’t just wrong for Virginians, it’s downright dangerous,” said DPVA Communications Director Grant Fox.