Jay Jones was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates in 2017 representing the 89th District. A lifelong resident of Norfolk, Jay’s call to public service was generations in the making.
The descendant of slaves, Jay’s family has been in Norfolk since the early 20th century. His grandfather, Hilary H. Jones, Sr., was a pioneering Civil Rights attorney in Norfolk and became the first Black member of the Norfolk School Board. In 1969, he was appointed to the State Board of Education, the first Black to be named to the board in the history of Virginia.
Jay’s father, Jerrauld C. Jones, is one of the few Virginians to serve in all three branches of state government. He was a member of the General Assembly from 1988 – 2002, served as Director of the Department of Juvenile Justice under Governor Mark Warner and is a retired Circuit Court judge. His mother, Lyn Simmons, is currently a judge on the Norfolk Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court after a long career as a violent crime prosecutor and attorney in private practice.
Like his forebears before him, Jay is dedicated to ensuring his community and Commonwealth embraces everyone, no matter who you are, where you come from, or what you look like.
As a member of the House of Delegates, Jay fought to expand Medicaid, increase the minimum wage, and give teachers annual pay raises. He also gave voice to progressive energy and environmental policies that improve the lives of all Virginians while preserving our air, water, and land. A tireless legislator, Jay championed legislation known as the “Ashanti Alert,” a bill to establish a missing persons alert for adults in the Commonwealth. The “Ashanti Alert” was used as the model for a bill that eventually became federal law.
Jay was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates three times, representing the 89th District in Norfolk.
Jay is an attorney at Hogan Lovells, where he focuses his practice on state Attorneys General work as well as regulatory and policy matters, including environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) issues. He is an accomplished litigator with extensive trial experience in state court. Jay previously served as an Assistant Attorney General in the Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia, where he was a member of the Office of Consumer Protection. In this role he took on gun manufacturers, financial institutions, and housing conglomerates to vindicate the rights of everyday citizens.
Jay completed his undergraduate studies at the College of William and Mary, where he was a double major in Government and History. Jay worked in corporate finance in New York before obtaining his law degree from the University of Virginia.
Jay, his wife Mavis, and two sons reside in Norfolk. They are members of the Basilica of St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception.
