A debate between the gubernatorial candidates in Virginia turned into a humiliating defeat for Democrats after their nominee refused to withdraw her endorsement of scandal-ridden attorney general candidate Jay Jones.Democrats have been shoved into an untenable position after leaked texts showed Jones had wished violence on his political opponent as well as his children.'Would it take him pulling the trigger? Is that what would do it? And then you would say he needs to get out of the race, Abigail?'Republican gubernatorial candidate Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears used the issue as a cudgel to hammer away at Democrat Abigail Spanberger during their debate Thursday at Norfolk State University. Spanberger vehemently denounced the comments but tried in vain to derail the conversation and instead attack Sears."Abigail, when are you going to take Jay Jones and say to him, 'You must leave the race'? He has said that he wants to murder his political opponent, and not only that, but his political opponent's children," Sears said.Spanberger tried to filibuster the question without answering, but it only prolonged her embarrassment."We are all running our individual races. I believe my opponent has said that about her lieutenant governor nominee, and it's up to every person to make their own decision. I am running my race to serve Virginia, and that is what I intend to do," Spanberger eventually said.Sears pressed on."I’m wondering why my opponent won’t say, beyond it’s abhorrent and disgusting, why she won’t say it is not OK and that he must leave the race because Jay Jones advocated the murder, Abigail, the murder of a man," Sears said. "Would it take him pulling the trigger? Is that what would do it? And then you would say he needs to get out of the race, Abigail? You have nothing to say?"Spanberger's comment appeared to mimic a statement from former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi when she avoided the issue in a CNN interview Wednesday. "She has to do what she has to do. She's going to be governor. She's running very well," Pelosi said of Spanberger. "Her race is her race, and her state is her state, and it's up to her."Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin continued the criticism of Spanberger on social media. "Abigail Spanberger continues to stand behind her running mate who wanted to see a man and his children murdered," he wrote. "Abigail, you had your chance to show courage and moral clarity and you failed."RELATED: Democrat Jay Jones cancels fundraiser amid growing backlash over violent texts about GOP rival and his kids Headlines after the debate extended the embarrassment for Spanberger, and video from the debate has already been turned into a devastating campaign advertisement. Spanberger has had the financial and early polling advantage on Sears in the race, but the emergence of the text scandal in the wake of the horrific assassination of Charlie Kirk may tip the scales.The texts have prompted many to call on Jones to abandon his campaign, but so far, he has not relented. "I've told you this before," read the Jones text. "Only when people feel pain personally do they move on policy."Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Americans were told that the infamous pipe bomb was planted on January 5 and found just moments before the first breach of the Capitol on January 6.However, that narrative is now crumbling.“You have access now to information that says that this narrative that came from law enforcement originally, this is not true,” BlazeTV host Liz Wheeler says to John Solomon, editor in chief of Just the News.“Kash Patel has always had his doubts about what happened on January 6. And now that he’s got access to what are known as prohibited case files and other drives of evidence that Congress had never accessed before, we’re beginning to see that the narrative doesn’t hold up,” Solomon tells Wheeler.- YouTubeEnjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.While the FBI’s initial narrative claimed that the pipe bombs were planted by unidentifiable figures the night before, there’s no phone tracking in the time frame that matches the action of the person on video.“And so over the last six months or so, some people in Congress like Barry Loudermilk, the chairman of the subcommittee, looking at it, starting to wonder, ‘Was that a head fake? Was there something different to look at? Was this a training episode?’” Solomon explains.“You start opening up the possibilities of things that you didn’t think about in the original analysis when it was so clean and cut and the FBI gave us a nice cookie cutter of what they thought the storyline was,” he continues.Now, FBI Director Kash Patel has been coming out with new information, like the lab report.“The lab report shows that both of these bombs were not likely to have been active, meaning they would not have likely exploded with the triggers that were on them,” Solomon tells Wheeler. “And they use language like, ‘If they had been properly assembled, they would have exploded, but it doesn’t look like that.’”Expert Fred Whitehurst, Solomon recalls, explained that the report had “a lot of problems in it” and was “made to make it sound like these bombs were dangerous and terrible and those bad Donald Trump people probably planted them.”“There are two key things,” he tells Wheeler. “There doesn’t appear to be a lot of black powder in the bomb. That would be the propellant for the bomb exploding and putting out dangerous material and shrapnel towards people.”“And then two, if these were planted 16 hours in advance, the bomb maker had an only one hour timer on it. So if you planted them 16 hours earlier, that timer is gone in an hour. What happened?” he continues.However, that’s when the “real bombshell” came.“There was a witness who found the Republican National Committee bomb and that witness says there is no chance that bomb was planted 15, 16 hours before,” Solomon tells Wheeler.The witness noticed that there were 20 minutes left on the timer for the bomb before she alerted the police.“Now none of that fits the 15-hour narrative that the FBI had long bestowed upon the American public,” Solomon says. “And by the way, that narrative comes from the Capitol police from their video footage.”“So it starts with the Capitol police,” he adds.Want more from Liz Wheeler?To enjoy more of Liz’s based commentary, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

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