Jay Jones is the Democratic nominee for Virginia Attorney General this fall. State Republicans have questioned his decision to take advantage of a 2022 reckless driving charge and avoid jail.

The politician completed 1000 hours of community service. Half of them were spent with his political action group, Meet Our Moment. The other half was spent volunteering at the NAACP Virginia State Conference. The Richmond Times-Dispatch announced the conviction on Wednesday.

Jones was charged with a vehicular violation after he drove 116 miles an hour on a Virginia interstate, almost twice the speed limit. He could have spent a year in prison for reckless driving. However, his lawyers negotiated a deal where he would pay a fine of $1,500 and do 1,000 hours community service.

Virginia Republicans do not seem satisfied with the fact that Jones has fulfilled his obligations as per court records.

The incumbent Republican state attorney general Jason Miyares criticized his opponent’s use of community service in order to further his political ambitions.

Miyares posted on X that “instead of taking responsibility for his actions, my opponent submitted a court letter stating that he completed 500 hours of community service for his own PAC which is not a charitable organization under state code to avoid potential jail time.”

He said that the incident raised serious and troubling questions regarding Jay Jones’ judgement, his ability uphold law, and his qualification for Attorney General.

Gov. Glenn Youngkin, (R-VA), also spoke out on the race and urged voters to vote for Miyares because Jones was unqualified.

The term-limited Governor stated, “The position of attorney general is far too important to be left to someone who would break the law recklessly and put others’ lives at risk. He then misled the Courts and public by falsely claiming that he did community service when working on his political operation.”

He said: “We must find out what Jay Jones did, but it is clear that he can’t be Virginia’s chief cop.”

Jones responded to the report by saying he had made a mistake and atoned for his offense.

He told several news outlets that he regretted speeding a few years back. “I accepted my mistakes, paid the fine and fulfilled my responsibilities to the court. This was accepted by both the New Kent County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office as well as the judge.”

The driving offense occurred weeks after Jones left the Virginia House of Delegates. He lost the Democratic primary for Virginia Attorney General in June 2021 to incumbent Mark Herring. Miyares won that election in November 2021.

Jones, who won the Democratic primary in the summer, will face Miyares directly for the first-time next month.

A Roanoke college poll conducted in August showed Jones leading Miyares by 3 points. In a separate poll conducted by Virginia Commonwealth University in September, Jones had a 6-point lead over Miyares. Elections will take place on November 4.