Tuesday’s primary for Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.) in Virginia’s 5th Congressional District has pitted former President Trump against some of his top allies, stoking sharp ideological tensions within House Republicans.
The tight race could lead to the first defeat of a 2024 House incumbent in a primary and the first successful campaign of former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) against those who voted to remove him from office.
In an apparent act of retaliation, President Trump last month endorsed Goode’s opponent, Virginia senator and Navy SEAL John Maguire.
Goode is chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, a hardline conservative group that has often aligned with the former president. But he was also one of the few House Republicans who endorsed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for president in the Republican primary. Goode avoided criticizing Trump and quickly endorsed the former president after DeSantis withdrew, though Trump said his endorsement was “too late.”
“The damage has already been done!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Maguire also has support from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), who quit the Freedom Caucus last year after a tense clash with other members of the group and has been a consistent critic of Goode.
But many of Trump’s other strongest defenders in Congress have backed the second-term Virginia Republican, including Reps. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) and Byron Donald (R-Fla.), who are reportedly Trump’s running mate.
Goode ignored a question this week about whether he regretted supporting DeSantis.
“It’s time to support President Trump. I’m not stuck on an endorsement I made 13 months ago,” Good said.
“Any time a former president comes out against you, it’s a close race. I think the former president is off the hook. He’s got poor advice,” Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) said of Trump’s endorsement. Roy is a member of the Freedom Caucus, which supports Goode and has also endorsed DeSantis.
“But it’s OK, we’re going to fight through it,” Roy added.
But Trump allies who support Maguire say Good’s support for DeSantis following his indictment riles the former president’s deeply personal feelings.
“One side supported Trump, the other side betrayed Trump and the movement. That’s what this campaign is about,” said John Fredericks, a conservative radio talk show host who served as Trump’s presidential campaign chairman in Virginia in 2016 and 2020.
Despite not having Trump’s endorsement, Good has highlighted his ties to the former president in his messages to voters.
“The yard signs say ‘Trump Republican,'” said Zach Roday, a Virginia Republican strategist based in the district. “All of the mailings say ‘Implement Trump policies.'”
While members of Congress are making their own political calculations about who to support in the primary, it’s not clear how voters in the district are reacting to endorsements from figures like Trump and McCarthy.
“It’s a very private matter,” Roday said. Politicians like McCarthy are trying to drum up support as a revenge attack against Goode: “It’s important for fundraising and those factors are important, but it’s not what actually influences votes in precincts.”
Roday added that overall, Trump’s support has been “definitely beneficial” to the district.
Despite not receiving an endorsement, Goode attended President Trump’s speech to House Republicans this week just outside the Capitol. During the speech, President Trump named Rep. David Valadao (R-Calif.), one of the members who voted in favor of impeachment, and suggested some of the other members in the room might not like him very much. As Goode left the rally, he declined to answer questions from reporters.
Goode, who defeated former Rep. Denver Riggleman (R-Va.) in the district’s 2020 nominating convention but has never run in a primary, is what one anonymous Republican strategist called an “incumbent with an asterisk.”
Additionally, the district has since been rezoned and its boundaries expanded eastward into Goochland County in the Richmond area.
Strategists say that could be an advantage for Maguire, who has represented metro Richmond in both the state Senate and House of Representatives.
“If McGuire wins the district he represents by a large margin, I think it’s going to be pretty tough for the rest of the district because they’re going to know that Trump supports him,” Roday said.
Recent polls have McGuire leading Good. A poll released Wednesday by the conservative Virginia Faith and Freedom Coalition showed McGuire with 41% approval to Good’s 31%. Twenty-nine percent of survey respondents said they were undecided.
“The problem with Bob isn’t just that he supported DeSantis. It’s not just that he voted or that he voted against McCarthy, although he certainly helped us put together a very interesting coalition,” said a strategist in Virginia who asked not to be named.
“Where Bob failed was in his first two terms, he didn’t really market himself to the people and do the job of representing them,” the strategist continued. “He went to D.C. for the cameras and then came home.”
Goode’s support for Maguire has also been bolstered by the fact that he voted with seven other Republicans and all Democrats to impeach McCarthy last year.
Mr. McCarthy’s Majority Committee PAC donated $10,000 to Mr. Maguire’s campaign.
Goode’s defeat would mark the first successful campaign of revenge against those who voted to impeach McCarthy. One of Goode’s allies in the impeachment, Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina, won her primary last week. McCarthy’s PAC donated $10,000 to Mace’s primary rival.
Goode’s vote to oust McCarthy also galvanized a significant number of Republican House members, particularly those ideologically opposed to McGuire and the Freedom Caucus’ hardline tactics, to support McGuire.
“The majority of the majority is tired of being pushed around by the minority of the majority,” said Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-Wis.), one of the lawmakers supporting Maguire.
“If I was a coach and one of the members of my team, let’s say a baseball team, was cutting a player’s shoelaces in the dugout before a game, I would fire him because he’s not a part of the team,” Van Alden said.
It’s part of a larger trend among Republicans this term to back challengers to incumbent colleagues in an attempt to eliminate ideological and tactical opponents.
“The overall goal is to steer this conference in the best direction for the American people,” Roy said of his support for Good.
Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) said he decided to back Maguire as a response to Good’s support for his far-right opponent, whom Bacon defeated earlier this year.
“If you bomb my Pearl Harbor, I’m going to nuke two of your cities. That’s my idea,” Bacon said.
Roy noted that some councillors had supported Maguire before Goode endorsed Bacon’s challenger.
Goode’s Freedom Caucus colleagues, including Roy and Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.) and Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), campaigned in Goode’s district just days before the primary.
“He’s a very conservative, strong leader and a member of Congress who will support and defend the Constitution. Exactly the type of member we want in office,” Clyde said.
Updated at 3:02 p.m.
