For a fringe extremist, Bob Good doesn’t respresent that red of a district. It is a red district, just not that red. Trump beat Biden in VA-05, a district with an R+7 PVI, by just over 8 points. The huge, sprawling central Virginia district includes 24 counties and independent cities. The county with the most voters, Albemarle is comfortably blue, as is Charlottesville. Lynchburg, Danville, Fluvanna, Nelson, and Prince Edward are swingy and the rest are red, some impossibly so, like Pittsylvania, Campbell, Powhattan, Bedford, Appomattox and Amelia. It’s becoming a battleground district and one day a strong Democratic candidate will have a solid chance to beat Good. Last cycle, the Democratic candidate Josh Throneburg raised just $876,655 to Good’s $1,149,484 and wound up with 129,996 votes, 42.3% of the total. The DCCC ignored the district entirely and there was no significant outside spending.
DWT only featured Good 9 times, each one an example of his over-the-top extremism, most recently Good complaining about Trump not being extreme enough. Watch:
Yesterday, Good was elected chair of the “Freedom” Caucus, Congress’ most extreme right ideological grouping. Warren Davidson, an Ohio MAGAt urged the members to find someone else instead of good and said he would no longer be on the caucus’ board. There was no other candidate to run and they’re stuck with Good.
He told Kadia Goba that “he plans to be the ‘conservative conscience’ of House Republicans with a focus on reducing spending and securing the border. He vowed to help recruit more candidates for office who ‘reflect the conservative center of the Republican base,’ but suggested he wouldn’t try to primary sitting GOP moderates. ‘We’re focused on recruiting conservative candidates to win in the seats where we have members that are not running again or retiring,’ he said. ‘We’re certainly not targeting existing members from a primary standpoint.’ Notably, Good could find himself once again going toe-to-toe with former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who has promised to spearhead his own effort to recruit GOP candidates after he leaves the House. Good also signaled the Freedom Caucus would continue to act as a stumbling block on Ukraine aid, even as he declined to say definitively how he’d steer the caucus on the issue. ‘Speaking for myself and many of my conservative colleagues, there certainly is not a consensus interest in sending more resources to Ukraine,’ he said.”
Last month, Olivia Beavers reported that Good, who she noted, is “one of the more unpopular House Republicans,” might face a primary challenge of his own for endorsing DeSantis and crossing Trump. “John McGuire, a former Navy SEAL turned Virginia state delegate [now state Senator], is expected to announce a bid against Good in the coming weeks, according to two Republicans with direct knowledge who were granted anonymity to address the future campaign. There's no sign that McGuire has coordinated his efforts with either Trump or McCarthy, despite Good's recent antagonism of both powerful Republicans. But his candidacy nonetheless aligns with the interests of Trump and McCarthy allies who hope to exact revenge against Good.”
McGuire has since declared his candidacy, leaning heavily on his support for Trump. It’s worth mentioning that he took part in Trump’s attempted coup and January 6 insurrection, although he hasn’t been charged with any crimes. He blames Good for the Virginia House flipping to the Democrats:
Our current Congressman voted for Kevin McCarthy to be Speaker, then threw a temper tantrum, reversed himself, and allowed the party to fall into chaos, costing us the 2023 elections.
Republicans came together around Mike Johnson, who is now working to clean up the mess our Congressman created by his chaos-causing temper tantrum, costing us the majority here in Virginia.
As you know, Marxist Democrats now control the Virginia General Assembly, which is going to hurt the people of Virginia badly. Instead of our current Congressman helping the GOP team and the people of Virginia, he helped himself— and the Democrats.
Ever since I won the convention to be your nominee for state senate, people from across the district have been urging me to run against the entrenched, establishment Congressman who has only served himself. I'm answering the call.
There are other consequences of our current Congressman's failed approach. When our strongest ally, Israel, was attacked by terrorists who burned babies, killed 32 American citizens and took at least 10 American citizens hostage, our Congressman didn't help.
In addition, one of the primary concerns I hear from people in the 5th Congressional District is how our current Congressman treats them personally. We The People are not interested in having someone represent us who yells at grandmothers to try and intimidate them. There is no honor in that behavior and those who keep giving him a pass are complicit. How can Republicans build a majority and win when you treat fellow Republicans or anyone that way? I will do what I must.
I have a Biblical worldview and will always stand up for righteousness. That's why I'm answering the call from folks all over the 5th district to run for this seat.
On his Facebook page, McGuire wrote that he’s “running for Congress against ‘Never Trump’ politician Bob Good. On the day our president was wrongly indicted, Bob abandoned Trump by endorsing another candidate.”