CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) — Bob Good is fighting a two-front battle to keep his seat in Virginia’s 5th Congressional District and with it his role as leader of the conservative House Freedom Caucus. And that doesn’t even count his opponent in the June 18 Republican primary, says Senator John McGuire.
Good, who played a key role in the ouster of former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, has drawn the ire of establishment Republicans who are bankrolling a campaign to oust him.
More importantly, he has also lost the support of former President Donald Trump, who is backing McGuire. Good fell out of favor with Trump when he supported Florida’s government. Ron DeSantis for the 2024 presidential nomination.
Good switched his support to Trump after DeSantis dropped out, but that did little to calm the former president. On social media, Trump called Good “BAD FOR VIRGINIA, AND BAD FOR THE USA.” Trump acknowledged that Good eventually gave him a message of support, but it was too late: “The damage has already been done.”
Trump has escalated the attacks in recent days. He released a video in which he endorsed McGuire and warned that Good “will stab you in the back like he did me.”
McGuire has echoed the attacks, calling Good a “never Trumper,” putting Good on the defensive.
Good, for his part, says he considers Trump “the best president of my lifetime.” He says he supported DeSantis because he wanted a candidate who could serve two terms, and Trump is constitutionally eligible to serve only one more term.
He attacks McGuire as a serial campaigner who always has his eye on the next job.
McGuire ran for Senate in 2023, and within a week of winning a four-year term there, he announced he was running for Good’s seat in Congress. In 2022, he ran for Congress in another district, the 7th, but later withdrew. In 2021, he ran for the House of Representatives and won. In 2020, he lost a primary race for the 7th District.
“He is literally a perennial candidate looking to win a race,” Good said.
Good, on the other hand, has a relatively short political resume. He served on the Campbell County Board of Supervisors and then took over from incumbent Republican Congressman Denver Riggleman in 2020. He defeated Riggleman at a nominating convention when Riggleman faced backlash among social conservatives for officiating a gay wedding.
Good is rewarded for his efforts to oust McCarthy. The Republican political action committee Defending Main Street, which almost always spends to support incumbent Republicans, launched a $450,000 ad campaign against Good.
“We spend 99% of our money protecting incumbents and adding more mainstream conservatives to the House of Representatives, but this was a unique situation,” said Sarah Chamberlain, the group’s president and CEO.
Good said he believes the massive advertising campaigns against him are the only reason the race is close, but voters don’t care that he voted to impeach McCarthy.
He said McCarthy “is now on a revenge tour and I am his biggest target.”
It may have seemed inconceivable that an incumbent with Good’s conservative record could be vulnerable in a primary, but Alex Keena, a political science professor at Virginia Commonwealth University, said the race “reshapes the dynamics in the Republican Party right now.” has recorded well. .”
He said Good “put himself on an island” and alienated mainstream Republicans by ousting McCarthy. And he lost Trump voters because, “I think he betrayed Trump, which is very easy to do.”
Good put it simply: McGuire, he said, “doesn’t run to my right. He runs to the Trump of me.”
McGuire and his campaign did not respond to multiple phone calls and emails requesting an interview.
The race has splintered the far-right Freedom Caucus, of which Good is chairman. Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz has come to the district to support Good, while Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene campaigned for McGuire.
At a rally last week in Charlottesville — the most liberal part of the district — several dozen McGuire supporters outnumbered 75 to 100 protesters who swarmed around McGuire and Greene as they stepped off a campaign bus.
All attempts by McGuire and Greene to speak were drowned out by protesters chanting “Go home!” chanted. and waving signs that read “No Hate in Our State.”
Neither McGuire nor Greene seemed to mind, with McGuire smiling through the chaos and Greene blowing kisses to her opponents as they responded with middle fingers.
McGuire asked what he thought of the scene, smiled and said, “Freedom!” as he retreated to his bus.
McGuire supporters indicated at the meeting that their support for the candidate stems mainly from their disappointment with Good.
“Good is a backstabber,” said Nelson County resident Kerry Williams Thornton. “I was at Good two years ago. … But you can’t go with DeSantis and think Trump will support you.”
