House Freedom Caucus chair Bob Good beaten by Trump-backed primary rival, Virginia election officials say
Good, bye.
House Freedom Caucus chairman Bob Good (R-Va.) was officially deemed to have lost his primary to state Sen. John McGuire Tuesday, giving the incumbent 10 days to formally ask for a recount of the June 18 contest.
The Virginia State Board of Elections called the race with Good, 58, trailing McGuire by 374 votes out of more than 62,000 cast, a margin of 0.6%.
Good has vowed to pay the cost of a recount, which would have fallen to the state had the spread been 0.5% or lower.
“Number one, I want to thank God. We could not have done this without my wife Tracy, our incredible team, and of course President Trump! This is the honor of a lifetime,” McGuire, who was endorsed by the 45th president, said in a statement.
McGuire, a former Navy SEAL, had declared to his supporters on primary night that “I’m your Republican nominee” for Virginia’s 5th Congressional District seat.
During a post-debate rally in Chesapeake, Va. last Friday, Trump touted his backing of McGuire over Good:
“He started off, not a lot of people knew him,” Trump said of the state lawmaker. “I endorsed him and he went up 27 points and he ended up winning by like, does it matter? Few hundred votes. We’ll take it. Doesn’t matter. Two votes is okay, too.”
Good took the reins as chairman of the conservative Freedom Caucus earlier this year, and had rankled some prominent members of his own party during his time in the lower chamber.
Trump had been vexed by Good’s backing of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis during the 2024 GOP presidential primary.
Good was also one of just eight Republicans who banded together with 208 House Democrats to oust former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) last year.
After the initial tally showed Mcguire in front, Good began trafficking in innuendo about election integrity.
The congressman has claimed that there were several suspicious fire alarms triggered at polling stations on primary night, including at Liberty University — his former employer.
An alarm there was set off by cleaning equipment and prompted a roughly 15-minute evacuation, according to local officials.
Good has also groused about prominent past Republicans who had endorsed McGuire.
“Just look at who’s supporting my opponent. It is the Paul Ryan, Kevin McCarthy, Eric Cantor types — the swamp folks, the RINOs for whom the endless wars, allegiance to the industrial military complex — that’s who’s funding my opponent,” Good said on Steve Bannon’s “War Room” podcast last month.
During the bruising primary, outside groups pumped an estimated $10.7 million into the contest, with more than half of it aimed against Good, according to an analysis from OpenSecrets.
McGuire is favored to win the seat in the general election over Democrat Gloria Witt.
The Good campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
