Commonwealth of Virginia
Office of the Attorney General
Jay Jones
Attorney General
202 North 9th Street
Richmond, Virginia 23219
804-786-2071
FAX 804-786-1991
Virginia Relay Service
800-828-1120
For media inquiries only, contact:
Rae Pickett
RPickett@oag.state.va.us
Remarks of Attorney General Jay Jones
Albemarle Charlottesville NAACP Freedom Dinner
October 2, 2026
Good evening, Albemarle-Charlottesville NAACP!
President Lynn Boyd, thank you for bringing us together. First Vice President George Dillard Jr., the officers, executive committee and everyone who put tonight’s dinner together, it’s an honor to be here.
As many of you know, Mavis and I make our home in Norfolk about 160 miles away from where we stand, but right now I feel right at home. I graduated from UVA Law in 2015, so Charlottesville has a special place in my heart.
And I have to say, it’s even more beautiful when you’re not paying tuition.
This year marks 25 years since the Albemarle and Charlottesville branches came together. But your roots run much deeper.
In 1947, Reverend Benjamin F. Bunn organized Charlottesville's naacp branch. He brought people together to challenge segregation and demand equal treatment under the law. That branch became an important part of the fight against massive resistance, Virginia's campaign to keep public schools segregated.
In 1953, families and church members in western Albemarle built their own branch out of a local fight for justice.
That history belongs to this community. So does the responsibility of carrying it forward.
You do that whenever you help someone register, answer a question about voting or stand beside a neighbor facing discrimination. Most of that happens without a microphone or a room full of people applauding. It matters all the same.
As Virginia's first Black attorney general, I know how much I owe the people who came before me.
My grandfather, Hilary Jones, was a civil rights lawyer in Norfolk. He practiced in a Virginia where the law enforced white supremacy. Black parents paid taxes to a government that kept their children out of white schools and treated their families as second-class citizens.
He fought that system. He became the first black member of the Norfolk school board and later the first black member of Virginia's state board of education.
Those were rooms where decisions about black children had long been made without black people at the table.
My father, Jerrauld Jones, experienced that discrimination as a child.
At seven, he helped integrate ingleside elementary school in Norfolk. he heard racial slurs at school. Later, at Virginia Episcopal School, he was beaten and found a racial slur written on the mirror in his room.
He was a child trying to get an education.
He grew up to become a legislator and a judge. Today, his son serves as Attorney General of the Commonwealth.
I think about that when I walk into the office. The authority I have carries an obligation to treat people fairly and take their rights seriously.
In 2000, my dad introduced legislation to help people regain their civil rights after certain felony convictions. Someone rebuilding a life, he believed, should have a path back to full participation in the community.
I later carried that commitment into the house of delegates, pushing for constitutional change alongside incredible colleagues Charniele Herring, Mamie Locke, and Elizabeth Bennett-Parker.
Now that effort has brought us to question 3 on this November's ballot.
They asked me to keep this to ten minutes. I hope you appreciate the personal sacrifice involved in asking a lawyer to leave something unsaid.
But there is one thing I am absolutely going to say: I’m asking every Virginian to vote yes on question 3.
Governor Spanberger has already restored voting rights to 100,000 Virginians. governor, we all thank her for that work. question 3 would establish a lasting constitutional guarantee for the people who come after them.
The Virginia NAACP has endorsed yes on question 3, and I'm grateful for your leadership in helping people understand this amendment.
We have an opportunity to finish work that generations of Virginians have carried forward. Let's see it through.
In 32 days, we can put automatic restoration of voting rights into Virginia's constitution. When someone comes home after serving their time, they should have a voice in the community they are working to rejoin.
Aside from what is ahead of us in these 32 days, I do want to give you a report on the cases your attorney general has been handling.
When the Trump administration demanded Virginia's unredacted voter rolls, we fought that demand in court. A federal judge dismissed the lawsuit.
The administration has appealed, and we are defending that ruling. registering to vote does not erase the legal protections around your personal information.
We also joined other states in challenging new postal service rules that would have changed mail-voting requirements just before the election.
Those rules would have imposed new voter-list and ballot-envelope requirements on systems election officials had already spent months preparing.
We secured a court order blocking those mandatory changes for November. The NAACP helped defend that protection.
The national organization filed an amicus brief with the supreme court, explaining how the restrictions could prevent eligible voters from receiving and casting their ballots.
The supreme court left the order in place. The litigation continues, but the administration cannot impose those requirements for this fall’s election.
I appreciate the NAACP’s partnership in that case, and the tireless voter protection work you do long before anyone enters a courtroom.
For someone in rural Albemarle who cannot easily reach a polling place, a reliable mail ballot can determine whether they get to participate at all.
That is the practical consequence of these cases. People need to know the rules, receive their ballots and have their lawful votes counted.
Virginia runs its elections well. My responsibility is to defend that process for every eligible voter.
Someone who voted against me has exactly the same claim on the protection of my office as someone who supported me. that comes with the job.
So does thinking about the people who will live with the decisions we make today.
As the father of two boys, I get a daily reminder.
At work, I'm the chief legal officer of the commonwealth. At home, I'm trying to get two children to agree that bedtime is constitutional.
They remain unconvinced.
I want those boys to know what their grandfather endured and what their great-grandfather helped change. I want them to understand how many people made their opportunities possible.
Organizations like this one keep that history alive. You also give people somewhere to turn when they need help now.
You can expect me to take that same responsibility seriously. My office will investigate unlawful interference with voting and use the authority the law gives us to protect Virginians.
I'm proud to serve you, and grateful to be here.
Thank you for all you do for Charlottesville and Albemarle. God bless you, and God bless the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Published on: October 4, 2026