AFTER OPPOSING MEDICAID EXPANSION FOR YEARS, DELEGATE CHRIS JONES FLIP FLOPS IN NEW TV AD

RICHMOND, VA - After years of opposing expanding Medicaid, Virginia Republicans are desperately trying to cover their tracks in a competitive election year. From changing their websites to talking out of both sides of their mouth about the expansion, they know their opposition to affordable health care for hundreds of thousands of Virginians is a liability. 

But nobody is flip-flopping more dishonestly than Delegate S. Chris Jones of Suffolk, who released an ad recently about his record on healthcare. As chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, Jones was one of the key opponents of Medicaid expansion for years. The Washington Post once recognized him as "a leader in the fight against Medicaid expansion" as he fought to remove Medicaid expansion from a 2014 budget. 

Ironically, Jones says just the opposite in his new ad. "He led the fight to expand Medicaid," the ad claims, ignoring all evidence to the contrary. Jones fought to remove Medicaid expansion from every budget proposed during the McAuliffe administration, only changing his position once it became politically inconvenient. In the clearest sign that Jones actually cares little about his vote for Medicaid expansion, he still has an article from 2016 on his website boasting about his opposition to it. 

"Chris Jones thinks so little of the people he represents that he believes this craven attempt to mislead his constituents will actually work. He spent years fighting tooth and nail to deny thousands of people in his community access to affordable health care and they know it. Now that his political career is at risk, he's distorting his record on Medicaid expansion. It's a sad attempt by a career politician to run from his past mistakes, and a reminder that at the end of the day, the only person Chris Jones wants to help is himself," said DPVA Secretary Grant Fox. 

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