Republican Congressman Bob Good has faced a major challenger in the 5th Virginiae Congressional District sooner, but the June primary will be different than the contests he has won in the past.
That’s thanks to a state law supported by Democratic Del. Then Helmer and signed by the former Democratic Administration. Ralph Northam in March 2021.
That law, which took effect in January, had one unintended consequence: Virtually banning conventions in all elections, including party primaries, in Virginia.
Helmer has said his motivation for introducing the bill was to ensure that every registered voter, including military members abroad, could cast ballots in contests at home without fear of missing a convention. Conventions are like the Iowa Caucus: an in-person event where people travel to a location chosen by their political party and vote with their feet or by raising their hands to be counted.
That change in Virginia election law could spell trouble for incumbent Congressman Bob Good, who has won his party’s nomination twice. He won his primary first in 2020 and again in 2022, through conventions on what critics have called “his turf” in a predominantly rural district that stretches nearly 200 miles from top to bottom. In both races, he received fewer than 2,000 votes at those conventions in a district with about 562,925 active voters, according to data from the Virginia Board of Elections.
In the solidly Republican 5th District, the GOP winner is expected to win the seat in Congress.
The numbers prior to the primary election
“He basically campaigned and legislated for those 2,000 people. I believe he has not represented the voice of everyone in his district, and I think that is a real vulnerability,” McGuire said in a recent interview with USA Today.
While those numbers seem bleak for Good, he remains unfazed.
“I did what I said I would do: I fought for border security, I fought for reduced federal spending, I fought to protect our constitutional freedoms. I ran for office as a conservative and I voted and signed into law as a conservative,” he said in a separate recent interview with USA Today.
Good argued that he received more votes in the 5th Congressional District than McGuire in McGuire’s 2023 race for Senate.
However, previous elections prove otherwise: McGuire received 59,013 votes in an uncontested race for 10th place in Virginia.e Senate District in 2023. That Senate District includes Appomattox, Powhatan, Goochland, Fluvanna and Buckingham counties, just to name a few of the places that make up the 5e Congressional district too.
The Trump factor
Despite that past support, McGuire declined an invitation to the only debate in the Fifth District primary, which was scheduled for May 20, according to a Cardinal News report.
“Frankly, there’s not much left to discuss,” a McGuire campaign spokesman said. “Bob is never Trump, John is a staunch supporter of Trump.”
Gaining favor and support from the former president has defined the primaries thus far. Good came under fire after he endorsed Trump’s main opponent, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, in May 2023.
McGuire said support during the presidential primaries was among other things a motivating factor in his decision to enter the race.
“What really pushed me over the edge was people in the neighborhood telling me how [Good] treated them,” McGuire said. “He’s a bully.”
McGuire announced his decision to enter the primary race against Good almost immediately after winning the election to represent Virginia’s 10e Senate district.
And it’s that quick turnaround that has drawn criticism from his opponent.
“My opponent is a perennial candidate looking to win a race,” Good said. “He betrayed the trust of many voters and lied to many voters.”
Both candidates have parroted Trump-driven narratives about the 2020 election that have been proven to be false. McGuire attended the Stop the Steal rally on January 6, 2021, but said he did not enter the Capitol. Good voted against certifying the 2020 election and said in a recent interview that he supports that decision. Both continue to cast doubt on the 2020 election results.
Neither has committed in recent interviews with USA Today to accepting the outcome of the 2024 election, and both traveled to New York City on the same day in mid-May to attend Trump’s hush money trial.
Past legislative work
McGuire has sponsored approximately 11 pieces of legislation signed into law by both Democratic and Republican governors since 2017, when he was elected to the House of Representatives.
At least one of his bills was co-sponsored by a Democratic member of the House of Representatives. That bill, HB 1128, passed during the 2022 special session to increase military tax credits from $10,000 to $40,000 by 2025. Another bill, regarding military veteran identification information on license plates and IDs, passed during the 2018 session, received broad bipartisan support in both the House of Representatives and the House of Representatives. and state Senate.
Elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2020, Good has passed one piece of legislation through both the U.S. House and U.S. Senate. That joint resolution was filed in March 2023 to overturn a rule issued by the Department of Education on October 12, 2022 that suspended federal student loan payments and canceled debt. That resolution passed largely along party lines, with two Democratic House members and two Democratic Senators voting with Republicans. The resolution was vetoed by President Joe Biden.
Good was elected to the Campbell County Board of Supervisors and served one term from 2015 to 2019, prior to his election to Congress.
This article originally appeared on Staunton News Leader: Bad news for Bob Good: New law upends primaries in Virginia’s 5th District
