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Newly sworn-in Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones drew swift online mockery Thursday after his office released a statement referring to him as “Attoney General,” an error that critics seized on as emblematic of his first major move in office.
The error appeared in a graphic accompanying Jones’ announcement defending Virginia’s in-state tuition law for undocumented students.
Former Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares, Jones’ predecessor, struck a lighter tone in a post that quickly gained traction online.
“Go easy folks,” Miyares wrote on X with a screengrab of the faux-pas circled in red. “Perhaps someone on the staff was just saying ‘Hey, Tony’ in a Jersey accent?”
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The Virginia GOP offered a sharper jab, saying it “took him a whole day to fix this,” suggesting the mistake lingered longer than it should have.
The Republican National Lawyers Association (RNLA) mocked both Jones’ error and the timing of the correction.
“Jay Jones is struggling,” RNLA posted. “This time he moved so quickly to change the letterhead from his last embarrassment that he forgot how to spell his new title.”
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National Review senior editor Jim Geraghty argued the typo barely registered compared to Jones’ broader record.
“The thing is, misspelling ‘attorney’ probably isn’t even in the worst 200 things that Jay Jones has ever sent electronically,” Geraghty quipped.
Other users leaned into sarcasm, including one account that joked Jones was “the Valedictorian of the Quality Learing Center.”
A newly updated post now sits on Jones’ official government X page, the graphic’s typo scrubbed.
Jones began his term under heightened scrutiny after facing backlash on the campaign trail over resurfaced text messages where he fantasized about the death of political opponent House Speaker Todd Gilbert and his children.
Despite the controversy, Jones was elected in what was considered a blue wave election last November alongside Democrat Gov. Abigail Spanberger.
The misspelling appeared to overshadow Jones’ announcement that he was moving to defend Virginia’s in-state tuition law, framing the decision as resistance to the Trump administration.
“On day one, I promised Virginians I would fight back against the Trump Administration’s attacks on our Commonwealth, our institutions of higher education, and most importantly – our students,” Jones said in the release. “Virginians deserve leaders who will put them first, and that’s exactly what my office will continue to do.”
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Critics argued the optics of the typo undercut Jones’ message, with the error quickly becoming an easy target amid a contentious fight over in-state tuition and immigration policy.
When reached by Fox News Digital, Jones’ office did not acknowledge the typo.
“In his first week in office, Attorney General Jay Jones has gotten to work protecting the Commonwealth from Donald Trump’s actions that would raise costs on Virginia families and defending Virginians’ rights from the Trump administration’s attacks,” a spokesperson for the Attorney General wrote in an email to Fox News Digital. “He has acted quickly to block overreach and stand up for the people of Virginia. Attorney General Jones is already scoring wins on affordability and accountability while delivering real results for the Commonwealth.”