The Jay Jones Effect

by David Shephard, ©2026

(Jun. 4, 2026) — Years ago, when I was young and just getting into politics, I remember a colorful, (and crooked) Louisiana Democratic politician named Edwin Edwards. He became known to me because he was running in a nationally profiled Gubernatorial race.

Edwards served as a member of Congress in the 1960’s and 70’s and later served as Governor for a couple terms in the 70’s and 80’s before retiring from politics. But he decided that he wanted to make a political comeback, and he got his opportunity in the early 1990s when former Klansman, neo-Nazi, (not sure if he had a Nazi tattoo) and Republican convert, David Duke, won the Republican nomination for Governor. Duke won the nomination with the help of his non-Republican supporters, who he motivated, and at the time the Republican Party was small and weak in Louisiana -maybe even ripe for a takeover, so Duke was able to pick up the nomination.

Edwards acknowledged to reporters that Duke had so much baggage that, “The only way I can lose is if I’m caught in bed with either a dead girl or a live boy” before election day.

The leadership of the Republican Party rightfully disowned Duke. The head of the RNC at the time encouraged Louisiana voters not to vote for Duke, and the Republican President at the time, George H.W. Bush, said don’t vote for him. Indeed, because a lot of Louisiana Republicans didn’t come out for Duke, Edwards won handily.

One more example for you. In 2017 Roy Moore from Alabama won the Republican Senate nomination. It was later learned that he had more skeletons in his closet than anyone knew. Many, many women came forward with accusations of sexual harassment. The Republican congressional establishment pulled their support for him. Moore lost and the Democrat, Doug Jones, was elected to serve Alabama in the Senate. Imagine that: a Democratic senator from Alabama.

I bring out these examples to demonstrate the difference between the parties. Republicans denounce their bad apples, but the Democrats don’t.

For example, in Maine, Democrats are about to nominate Graham Platner for the U.S. Senate. Platner, at least once, described himself as a communist. In addition, he has a Nazi tattoo, he is a far-left Bernie Sanders supporter, and, as if that wasn’t bad enough, now more stories are coming out about his sexting many women shortly after he got married. Any one of those facts should disqualify Platner for public office, yet so far, not one prominent Democrat has called for him to drop out.

It is amazing when you think about it. The Republican senator is Susan Collins, a moderate Republican. She is so moderate that she voted for Joe Biden’s Supreme Court pick, and she voted against Trump’s signature legislative accomplishment, the “Big, Beautiful Bill,” yet Democrats, to defeat her, are rallying around a Nazi-tattoo-wearing lefty. I think it shows just how far to the left Democrats have gone. They think that Susie Collins is so bad that they are willing to vote for a reprobate like Graham Platner to replace her.

Why do Democrats continue to support such people? Well, primarily because Democrats believe that democracy is at stake, and that the next election is the most important election in history, so they will go all-out for all of their nominees, no matter what comes out.

I call it the “Jay Jones effect.” To give you a reminder, as a candidate for state Attorney General, Democrat Jay Jones was confronted with his text messages and phone conversations with a fellow legislator, where he expressed his belief in political violence as being necessary to bring about positive social change.

He believed, for example, that if the Republican House Speaker, Todd Gilbert’s, children were killed, then some good could come out of that. Under his scenario, if the kids were killed by someone with a gun, then, and only then, might Gilbert move away from his pro- Second Amendment views. Now, maybe Gilbert’s views wouldn’t change, but according to Jones, it would not be a bad thing if it happened – after all, nothing ventured, nothing gained. Jones also expressed his dislike for Gilbert, admitting that he wouldn’t mind if someone put two bullets into Gilbert’s head.

But Virginia Democrats, even after hearing about this, still supported Jones. They still believed that he should be Attorney General of Virginia. So, if Jay Jones can survive such a scandal, safe to say that the Nazi-tattoo-wearing Graham Platner can survive in Maine as well.

The Jay Jones example crosses a line. It established a precedent. The party still supported him, despite what came out about his character and beliefs, and since they did, moving forward, every Democrat candidate, no matter what comes out about them, will expect the party’s continued support.

But I like to think positively. Surely, the Democratic leadership has some standards, some basic standards of character. What type of dirty laundry might come out about a Democrat nominee for office that might cross a line? Something so bad that leading Democrats would pull their endorsement?

Well, how about this scenario? What if it was learned that a Democratic nominee thought that their spouse was having a stroke, yet didn’t call for an ambulance; instead they dragged their spouse to the Waffle House for a late-night snack. Nah, come to think about it, I think Democrats would still find a way to support that horrible person as well.

David Shephard is a native and very proud Virginian.  Raised in Fairfax County, David graduated from George Mason University and majored in Government and Politics. He spent decades in politics, campaign consulting, raising money and lobbying.  He is also a longtime conservative blogger writing for numerous blogs.  He is also the host of “The Virginia Gentleman Podcast.”

David is the author of Elections Have Consequences, A Cautionary Tale, and his latest book, Norton’s Choice: An Inside Politics Exposé.