Southeast
Who is Elizabeth Simons? Meet the largest individual donor to Virginia’s disgraced Dem AG nominee

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FIRST ON FOX: The largest individual donor to Jay Jones’ flailing attorney general campaign in Virginia is a billionaire heiress who has backed a variety of left-wing candidates and causes along with a recent massive donation backing socialist NYC mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani.
Elizabeth “Liz” Simons, the daughter of the late billionaire hedge fund manager James “Jim” Simons, donated a total of $750,000 to Jones’ campaign over the past few months in four separate payments, campaign finance records show.
The elder Simons founded the successful hedge fund Renaissance Technologies and built up a personal fortune worth $31.4 billion over the course of his lifetime while donating billions of that money to charity.
The donations from his daughter are likely to face increased scrutiny after Jones was the subject of a National Review report on Friday that exposed text messages he sent fantasizing about shooting a Republican colleague, former Virginia House Speaker Todd Gilbert, in the head and suggesting his wife should have to watch his young “fascist” children die.
DEM SENATOR’S HEFTY DONATION TO DISGRACED AG CANDIDATE’S CAMPAIGN COMES BACK TO HAUNT HIM
Chair of the board of the Heising-Simons Foundation Elizabeth Simons speaks onstage at the 2016 Milken Institute Global Conference. (Getty Images)
The texts compared Gilbert to mass murderers Adolf Hitler and Pol Pot, adding that if he was given two bullets, he would use both against the GOP lawmaker to shoot him in the head.
The report has prompted Republicans in Virginia and across the country to call for Jones to drop out of the race, but as of Wednesday afternoon, he is still in the race as Democrats who endorsed him rally around his candidacy.
Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, who condemned the texts, said he is “still a supporter” of his campaign.
Fox News Digital reported on Tuesday that Mark Warner, the other Democratic senator in Virginia, also criticized Jones’ “appalling” texts and said his behavior was “inconsistent with the person I’ve known,” but stopped short of calling for him to drop out of the race. His office did not respond to a request for comment on the $25,000 donation to Jones’ campaign.
Jones has since apologized, calling the remarks “embarrassing and shameful,” and said he had reached out personally to Gilbert and his family.
GUN CONTROL GROUP GAVE SIX-FIGURE DONATION TO DEM CANDIDATE WHO FANTASIZED ABOUT SHOOTING GOP LAWMAKER

A text message from Jay Jones to Del. Carrie Coyner. (Obtained by Fox News Digital)
In August, Simons gave $250,000 to a super PAC aligned with Mamdani and has been a prolific donor to a variety of Democratic campaigns and causes.
FEC records reviewed by Fox News Digital show that she has given millions of dollars to the Senate Majority PAC, which has close ties to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, and the House Majority PAC, a fundraising operation aligned with House Democratic leadership. She also gave over $800,000 to a PAC that supported Kamala Harris’ failed presidential campaign.
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Virginia attorney general candidate Jerrauld “Jay” Jones speaks at an event in Norfolk, Virginia, on on June 17, 2025. (Trevor Metcalfe/The Virginian-Pilot/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
Simons, who joined her husband in forming the Heising-Simons Foundation in 2007 to bankroll left-wing environmentalist, education, and social policy causes, has recently made donations to Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff’s campaign, over $100,000 to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and over $40,000 to the Democratic National Committee.
Her family foundation is also a member of at least two gun control advocacy organizations, including Fund for a Safer Future and Hope and Heal Fund, which are both controlled by the New Venture Fund, according to the Capital Research Center’s InfluenceWatch.
Fox News Digital reached out to Simons for comment, but did not receive a response by press time.
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Southeast
Top GOP group drops big money into Virginia showdown after Dem AG nominee’s violent texts go viral

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The Republican Governors Association is dishing out an additional $1.5 million to boost Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, the GOP nominee facing off against former Democratic Rep. Abigail Spanberger in November’s ballot box gubernatorial showdown.
The new funding from the RGA, the top group that supports Republicans in races for governor, comes after explosive revelations in Virginia’s attorney general race that the GOP is aiming to leverage up and down the ballot.
Democratic Party attorney general nominee Jay Jones has acknowledged and apologized for texts he sent in 2022, where he compared then-Virginia House Speaker Todd Gilbert to mass murderers Adolf Hitler and Pol Pot, adding that if he was given two bullets, he would use both against the GOP lawmaker to shoot him in the head.
Jones has been in crisis mode since the texts were first reported last Friday by the National Review, and a chorus of calls from Republicans urges Jones to drop out of the race.
DEMOCRATIC VIRGINIA ATTORNEY GENERAL NOMINEE CANCELS EVENTS AMID CONTROVERSY
Winsome Earle-Sears, Republican gubernatorial nominee in Virginia, during a campaign event at the Vienna Volunteer Fire Department in Vienna, Virginia, US, on Tuesday, July 1, 2025. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Earle-Sears, who trails Spanberger in all the latest public opinion polls in the race to succeed term-limited Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin, is hammering her Democratic rival for not calling on Jones to drop out of the race.
The Earle-Sears campaign launched a new ad, which was first reported on Tuesday by Fox News Digital, that aims to link Spanberger to Jones and calls on voters to “reject the insanity” and “vote Republican.”
TRUMP FRONT-AND-CENTER IN THESE 2025 ELECTION SHOWDOWNS
“It’s clearer now than ever that this race isn’t about Republicans versus Democrats. It’s common sense versus violence,” said Peyton Vogel, a spokesperson for Earle-Sears campaign, in a statement to Fox News. “The RGA understands what’s at stake here in Virginia, and their support will help us stand strong against Abigail Spanberger’s ticket of rage.”
The boost in funding by the RGA, first reported by Politico and confirmed by Fox News Digital, now matches the roughly $5 million investment by the rival Democratic Governors Association (DGA) to Spanberger. But the RGA’s infusion of cash is still far short of the nearly $11 million the group spent four years ago to help elect Youngkin.

Abigail Spanberger, Virginia Democratic Party nominee for Governor, addresses the crowd during an event in support of her run for office at the Eastern Henrico Recreation Center in Richmond, Virginia, on April 8, 2025. (Max Posner/The Washington Post/Getty Images)
Earle-Sears and Spanberger face off in a debate on Thursday evening, and it’s expected the controversy over Jones’ three-year-old texts will be discussed.
Virginia and New Jersey are the only two states to hold gubernatorial showdowns in the year after a presidential election and the contests traditionally grab outsized attention and are viewed as political barometers ahead of the following year’s midterm elections.
DGA Communications Director Sam Newton, asked for a comment, argued that “Winsome Sears is running a disastrous campaign.”
Newton went on to say that “Instead of desperate spin to try to bail out a losing campaign, the RGA should ask Donald Trump a simple question: why does he still refuse to endorse or campaign with Sears?”
HEAD HERE FOR FOX NEWS COVERAGE OF THE 2025 ELECTIONS
Jones, who has apologized for the texts, has not held a campaign event since Friday evening.
Most Virginia Democrats, including the Commonwealth’s two U.S. senators, have condemned Jones’ comments, but have stopped short of urging him to drop out of the race.

Jay Jones, who is running to become Virginia’s attorney general in 2025, has been heavily criticized over a series of past text messages calling for the death of political opponents and remarks about police officers. (Maxine Wallace/The Washington Post/Getty Images)
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, a DGA vice chair who takes over as chair next year, told Fox News Digital that the text was “absolutely inappropriate.
“I condemn political violence in all forms and the type of language that would discuss or promote political violence,” the governor emphasized in an interview in New Hampshire.
But asked about GOP calls for Jones to end his campaign, Beshear said, “I don’t know enough about that situation.”
Fox News Digital’s Andrew Mark Miller contributed reporting.
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Southeast
AG-turned-senator lambasts Democrats’ silence on Jay Jones as sheriffs call for ouster: ‘We will not follow’

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Several Virginia law enforcement leaders are calling for attorney general candidate Jay Jones to drop out of the race after texts surfaced depicting him envisioning the murder of a former GOP leader, as a former top lawman turned senator told Fox News Digital it is unthinkable that many Democrats remain silent on the matter.
The Virginia Law Enforcement Sheriffs’ Association, representing the 86 sheriffs in the Old Dominion’s counties and independent cities, wrote a letter to Jones’ campaign headquarters in Williamsburg, Virginia, Wednesday demanding he bow out of the race.
“It’s really sickening,” Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., told Fox News Digital.
“Calling for the assassination of a rival, calling for the death of his children: I think hopefully all of us can agree that that’s beyond the bounds of what’s reasonable here, and he ought to step down,” said Schmitt, who previously served as the Show Me State’s attorney general.
‘STAGGERING’ SILENCE: DEMOCRATS KNOCKED FOR KEEPING MUM ABOUT CANDIDATE WHO FANTASIZED ABOUT MURDER
Schmitt added that it is unfortunate but telling that many Democrats have not said anything about it.
That “is pretty sad,” he said.
Virginia Attorney General candidate Jay Jones was convicted of reckless driving in 2022. (Craig Hudson For The Washington Post via Getty Images)
While Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., did defend Jones’ candidacy to Fox News Digital, Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., ignored questions, along with Sens. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and Chris Coons, D-Del., to other reporters as seen in a recent video.
Schmitt’s tenure in Jefferson City, Missouri, was particularly litigious against the Biden administration, which he sued several times.
The most notable of the cases was one alleging collusion between the feds and social media companies to censor content they disagreed with. Another suit sought to challenge bans on new oil and gas leases.
Back in Virginia, several sheriffs who lead the commonwealth’s association wrote to Jones demanding he leave the race.
Grayson County, Virginia, Sheriff Richard Vaughn, the sheriffs’ association president who patrols a rural county centered on Independence and Mouth of Wilson, led off the letter, which said Jones’ statements are “disgusting” and “unacceptable” for someone seeking to be Virginia’s top law enforcement officer.
“Our association has seen the text messages in which you called for violence against a family to include his young children,” the letter read. “Furthermore, it is alleged that you stated that if more police were killed it would reduce shootings of civilians.”
JOE SCARBOROUGH TELLS DEM CANDIDATE JAY JONES TO LEAVE RACE OVER VIOLENT COMMENTS AGAINST GOP LAWMAKER
The letter, further signed by association officials representing Virginia’s Campbell County — surrounding Lynchburg, Mecklenburg County — which includes South Hill, and Wise County on the Kentucky line, said calls for violence are unbecoming of a law enforcement officer.
“We will not follow an individual who has made such vile statements against citizens and the men and women in uniform who work hard every day risking their lives to combat the violence you advocate against them,” they wrote.
“Sir, you need to hold yourself accountable and immediately withdraw from the Attorney General race.”
JAY JONES SAID IF MORE POLICE WERE KILLED IT WOULD REDUCE SHOOTINGS OF CIVILIANS, ACCORDING TO VIRGINIA LAWMAKER
Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares, who is the GOP candidate for re-election, followed the letter with more reactions he received from other law enforcement around the commonwealth.
Smyth County, Virginia, Sheriff Chip Schuler joined the district prosecutor in the county seat of Marion to rip Jones.
“The office of attorney general is not a political prize — it is the commonwealth’s highest legal authority,” Schuler and Commonwealth’s Attorney Bucky Blevins said in a statement to Miyares’ campaign.
“The Attorney General must embody discipline, restraint, and integrity,” they added. “Every deputy sheriff and every prosecutor in this Commonwealth is held to that standard daily. Those seeking to lead us must meet, not evade, that same measure of accountability.”
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“For the good of the Commonwealth and the credibility of our justice system, we believe Mr. Jones should withdraw his candidacy,” Blevins and Schuler concluded.
Fox News Digital reached out to Jones’ campaign for comment.
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Southeast
Pelosi dodges when asked if Virginia AG candidate who fantasized about shooting Republican should drop out
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Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., dodged Wednesday when asked if Virginia Democratic attorney general candidate Jay Jones should drop out of his race after his text messages about shooting a Republican lawmaker were leaked.
Pelosi said such a decision was none of her business and that it was up to the voters of Virginia and the state’s Democratic lawmakers to decide.
“I really don’t get involved in other people’s races,” she told CNN’s Dana Bash. “It’s up to the people in that state. I respect their judgment and wish them well.”
CROCKETT DISMISSES CRITICS WHO THINK ‘HITLER’ AND ‘FASCIST’ COMPARISONS CONTRIBUTE TO POLITICAL VIOLENCE

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., refused to say whether Virginia Democratic attorney general candidate Jay Jones should drop out of his race after his text messages about shooting a Republican lawmaker were leaked. (Jemal Countess/Getty; The Washington Post/Getty)
Bash asked Pelosi about the controversy which blew up in recent days following the publication of Jones’ private text messages from 2022 that revealed his violent thoughts about the then-Virginia House Speaker Todd Gilbert.
In an exchange with Virginia Delegate Carrie Coyner, Jones compared Gilbert to two infamous dictators and said that he’d rather shoot Gilbert than the dictators.
“Three people, two bullets. Gilbert, Hitler and Pol Pot. Gilbert gets two bullets to the head,” he wrote to Coyner, who asked him to “Please stop” in response.
“Spoiler: put Gilbert in the crew with the two worst people you know, and he receives both bullets every time,” he added.
LAWMAKER TARGETED WITH DEATH THREAT AFTER CONDEMNING RACIST SIGN AIMED AT WINSOME SEARS

Jay Jones has come under fire for a series of text messages calling for the death of political opponents and remarks about police officers. (Maxine Wallace/The Washington Post/Getty Images)
Jones has since apologized, calling the remarks “embarrassing and shameful,” and said he had reached out personally to Gilbert and his family.
The leak of the texts has sent shockwaves through Virginia’s upcoming November election, which features Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, R-Va., facing off against former Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., for the governorship.
Though Earle-Sears, Republican AG candidate Jason Miyares and others have called Jones’ conduct disqualifying, Pelosi wouldn’t go there with Bash.
When asked if he should drop out, she said, “Well, that’s up to the people, the leaders in Virginia — they have said he has apologized. What I understand is, they say that on balance, he’s the better person to be attorney general. But that’s up to them.”
Bash noted Pelosi herself has experience with political violence. Her husband, Paul Pelosi, was brutally assaulted with a hammer in 2022 by David DePape.
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Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, left, and Attorney General Jason Miyares, right, both called Democrat attorney general candidate Jay Jones, center, unfit for office after texts emerged showing Jones fantasizing about political opponents’ deaths. (Pool, Getty Images, AP Photo)
Pelosi said she wished people were as concerned when people threatened to shoot her, saying, “We have to get rid of that kind of language. It’s not appropriate.”
Bash then asked Pelosi if she thinks Spanberger should call on him to step aside.
“Well, she has to do what she has to do,” she said. “She’s going to be governor. She’s running very well, everybody’s very proud of her candidacy. And her race is her race, and her state is her state, and it’s up to her.”
Pelosi’s language about not getting involved in other people’s races comes after she played a key role in pressuring President Joe Biden to drop out of the White House race in 2024.
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