 He was defeated in the Republican primary by incumbent George Hansen, and lost again in the 1980 primary to Hansen.Jones was elected the state's attorney general as a Republican in 1982, and was re-elected unopposed in 1986.He ran for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Jim McClure in 1990, but was defeated in the primary by Congressman Larry Craig, and returned to his private law practice in 1991.