In recent months, several Republican members of Congress have suffered setbacks in the primaries, but in every case, the incumbent Republicans have won.
That is, except Rep. Bob Goodwhose apparent defeat in the Virginia primary was certified yesterday by the state election board. NBC News reported:
Good, the chairman of the right-wing, pro-freedom House faction, has already made it clear that he will indeed seek a recount.
In terms of the broader context, several Republican congressional incumbents have failed in primaries in recent years because they lost the support of the GOP’s rabid far-right base. Good’s apparent defeat is something else entirely.
As regular readers know, the GOP lawmaker has dismissed the pandemic as a “fake crisis,” and has launched a baseless impeachment crusade against President Joe Bidenand helped lead the push for a debt ceiling crisis. The Washington Post’s Dana Milbank went so far as to call Good a “legislative terrorist.”
In other words, there was no reason for the party’s base to kick Good out. His loyalty to the far-right orthodoxy was never questioned.
So why does his congressional career seem to be coming to an end? There are a few angles to this story worth keeping in mind.
First, Good played a prominent role in ousting then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, which caused some resentment within the party. The Californian still has a political operation of sorts, and it’s turned against the Virginian.
Second, Good’s colleagues have come to see him as something of a joke: Even one of his Freedom Caucus colleagues recently admitted that Good is not a serious policymaker. Another GOP member predicted a few weeks ago: “The only Republican incumbent who loses this cycle is Bob Good. And he won’t lose because of policy, he will lose because of tactics and because his colleagues overwhelmingly don’t trust or respect him.”
But perhaps most importantly, the Virginia Republican endorsed Florida Governor Ron DeSantis Donald Trump in the GOP presidential primary, where some of his perceived allies have called him a “disloyal MAGA traitor.”
It didn’t take long for Good to acknowledge his political troubles, and in January he endorsed Trump. The Virginian was also one of several Republicans in Congress who traveled to the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse to show his support for the former president during his recent criminal trial.
But Trump concluded that the gestures came “too late,” adding: “The damage was done!”
In late March, The Washington Post quoted John Fredericks, a conservative Virginia radio host and longtime part of Trumpworld, as saying that Good’s fate was in the former president’s hands.
“If Trump endorses McGuire, McGuire’s going to win,” Fredericks said. Two months later, Trump endorsed McGuire, who apparently won.
This post is an update to our related previous reporting.
This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
