Rep. Bob Good, the Republican and leader of the House Freedom Caucus, faced a formidable opponent in a tight primary race on Tuesday night, who was supported by prominent Republicans such as former Speaker Kevin McCarthy and President Donald Trump.
As of late Tuesday night, in Virginia’s deeply red 5th District, there were only a few hundred votes separating state senator John McGuire in the lead and Good in close pursuit. According to Virginia state law, the losing candidate may ask for a recount within ten days of the election results being certified if the margin stays under one percentage point.
Good could end up becoming the first elected official to be defeated by a front-runner this year.
Good stated that the contest “remains too close to call” in a post on X on Wednesday, but his campaign still feels there is a chance to win because provisional and mail-in votes are still being accepted. He suggested that there might be a recount and that it might take “weeks” to determine the winner.
“To guarantee that everyone can have complete faith in the certified results, we are in a phase where the law offers a procedure for assessing the correctness of all the vote totals from election day,” Good stated on X.
“We think we can win still.”
As one of the eight Republicans who voted to remove Good from office last year, Good incited McCarthy’s wrath. According to ad tracking company AdImpact, McGuire significantly outspent Good on the air, and outside organizations supporting McCarthy also outspent the congressman from Virginia’s allies.
At a Goochland, Virginia event on Friday, Good told NBC News, “This is the tour of revenge for Kevin McCarthy.”
“It appears that he has dedicated his life to seeking retribution against those he holds accountable for his lack of Speaker status, aside from himself,” Good went on to say. “However, the citizens of the Fifth District will not be bought off.”
In the GOP primary, McGuire also had the most sought-after endorsement—that of Trump.
Despite the contest being extremely close, McGuire praised Trump Tuesday night as he announced his victory.
We still have a lot of work to do, so now is the time for us to gather together. Good declared during his election night party, “Though I’m your Republican nominee, I won’t be taking this lightly.” ABC13 streamed his address live.
Trump was “a significant factor in our victory, and I won’t forget it,” according to McGuire.
In a statement released by his team, the challenger clarified the situation a bit more, saying, “It’s evident that all paths lead to victory, even though there are still a few votes to count.”
Three weeks prior to Tuesday’s primary, the former president endorsed McGuire, alluding subtly to Good’s support of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in the presidential contest. Good failed to win over the former president despite his future support for Trump.
Following his endorsement of McGuire, Trump told supporters during a Monday night tele-rally that McGuire was running against Bob Good, who is not a good candidate. He is a terrible fit for Virginia, despite his moniker.
At a community concert in Powhatan on Friday, McGuire, a former Navy SEAL whose campaign slogan was “We can do better than Good,” told NBC News that Trump’s endorsement helped him win the election.
“Many people have told me that even though I don’t know you and have never met you, I can still get you if Trump endorses you,” McGuire remarked. “I think that after everything that he has been through, Trump deserves the authority to make the decisions and select his own team.”
However, Good is no stranger to facing off against a candidate supported by Trump. During the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, Good overcame then-Rep. Denver Riggleman at a party convention that was held through a drive-through.
Rep. Tom Cole, a Republican from Oklahoma, was similarly on the defensive on Tuesday, but he defeated businessman Paul Bondar, the main rival in the primary, who invested millions of his own funds in the contest. Trump helped Cole in the race; he told NBC News recently that Trump’s backing was “enormously helpful” as Cole faced the most expensive and contested primary since he was first elected in 2002. Cole chairs the influential House Appropriations Committee.
With the help of a $5.1 million personal loan from Bondar, the campaign ran advertisements accusing Cole of being out of touch with the 4th District and spending excessive amounts of time in the nation’s capital. Additionally, Bondar claimed that Cole was not conservative enough, citing Cole’s endorsement of government expenditure and assistance to Ukraine.
Cole and his supporters flooded the media with advertisements claiming that Bondar was a native Texan. Bondar did cast a ballot in the March Texas primary, but he does own property in Oklahoma, which is not in the 4th District.
Republican voters in other parts of Virginia on Tuesday selected Navy veteran Hung Cao to challenge Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine in November, according to NBC News projections. With Trump’s support, Cao outraised two other Republican competitors and raised the most money of any candidate in the Republican field.
In 2022, Cao lost by over seven points to Democratic Representative Jennifer Wexton in her unsuccessful bid for Congress. With Kaine seeking a third term in a state that has sent Democrats to the Senate recently, he is in for a challenging contest. In 2020, Biden won the state by ten points, while in 2018, Kaine won by seventeen points to win a second term.
Both parties are selecting their nominees for the open 7th and 10th House districts, and Democrats are also selecting a candidate to challenge Republican Rep. Jen Kiggans in the 2nd District.
Retired from the Army Democrats will have a well-known contender with military background and formidable fundraising skills in Col. Yevgeny “Eugene” Vindman, who is expected to secure the Democratic nomination in the 7th District. Despite Democratic Rep. Abigail Spanberger’s decision to run for governor, he wants to keep the seat for Democrats in the fall. Spanberger is a great fundraiser with experience in national security.
Vindman rose to public prominence during Trump’s first impeachment hearing when he and his brother voiced concerns about Trump’s 2019 phone conversation with the president of Ukraine from their position on the public Security Council. Even though he was a first-time candidate, he was by far the greatest fundraiser in the contest and received support from outside organizations on the radio while competing against more seasoned local politicians.
He will compete against former Green Beret Derrick Anderson, who defeated former Navy SEAL Cameron Hamilton in a contest between the party’s mainstream and radical wings. House Speaker Mike Johnson, along with a super PAC connected to McCarthy and Republican megadonors, supported Anderson.
In Virginia’s 10th District, where Democratic Rep. Jennifer Wexton is not running for reelection due to her diagnosis of progressive supranuclear palsy, a rare and serious condition, state Sen. Suhas Subramanyam is expected to prevail in a crowded and costly Democratic primary.
Gaining Wexton’s support enabled Subramanyam to stand out from a crowded field of wealthy Democrats, which also included state representative Dan Helmer, former assembly speaker Eileen Filler-Corn, and former Krystle Kaul from the Defense Department. With Democrats performing well in this suburban D.C. area lately, he will be in the driver’s seat to hold the district for Democrats in the fall. He will compete against Republican businessman and attorney Mike Clancy.
Kiggans will take against Democrat Missy Cotter Smasal, a former military member who has the support of every Virginia Democrat in the House. Kiggans has a sizable financial advantage and upset a Democratic incumbent in the district to gain the seat in 2022, but this is a swing district that will probably be close in the fall.
In races where no candidate received a majority of the primary vote in March, Georgia also held its primary runoffs.
Activist Chuck Hand, who entered a guilty plea to a misdemeanor offense related to the attack on January 6, 2021, in the Democratic-leaning 2nd District, was defeated in the Republican primary.
Additionally, it is predicted that Brian Jack, the former political director of Trump’s White House, would defeat state senator Mike Dugan in the GOP primary runoff. In November, the Republican is a strong favorite to unseat retiring GOP Representative Drew Ferguson.