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Rep. Bob Good, a Republican from Virginia and chairman of the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus, was still battling to keep his seat Thursday in an undecided primary against a challenger backed by former President Donald J. Trump.
The battle between the two men, who reject the election results, has devolved into an ugly, personal feud that could take weeks to complete. With more than 95% of the votes counted, according to the Associated Press, Goode was leading by just over 300 votes against John J. Maguire, a little-known state senator and former Navy SEAL who attended the “Stop the Steal” rally outside the White House on January 6, 2021. With mail-in ballots still being counted, Goode said he still had a chance to win.
But that didn’t stop Maguire, who has portrayed himself to voters as a true Trump supporter and criticized Goode for voting to fire former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, from declaring victory on Tuesday night, before the final votes were counted.
Virginia does not require an automatic recount, but either candidate can request one if the winner receives less than 1% of the vote. It was a rare instance in which both candidates in a photo-finish race spread the lie that Trump won the 2020 presidential election, raising questions about whether either would accept an adverse outcome in their own race.
“This law provides a process for evaluating the accuracy of all vote totals from Election Day so everyone can have full confidence in the certified results,” Good wrote on social media. “Provisional and mail-in ballots have also yet to be counted. I ask for full transparency from officials and patience from the residents of the 5th District for the next few weeks while we complete the certification of the results.”
The situation raised the resting heart rates of Maguire’s strongest supporters, who were confident of a decisive double-digit victory and had Trump assured of such an outcome. Trump’s support proved strong enough to vault a little-known state senator to a virtual tie with a well-known incumbent. But it also showed the limits of the former president’s power, as his support failed to seal a decisive victory for Maguire.
Even if Maguire ultimately wins, the result will be far from the landslide victory Trump hoped for when he agreed to run against Good. “If we get rid of Bob Good, he can’t win,” Trump campaign adviser Chris LaCivita promised earlier this year.
Mr. McCarthy had also urged Mr. Trump to join the race against Mr. Goode, people familiar with the endorsement said.
The bitter primary in the south-central state has split the MAGA movement and highlighted the shifting alliances, personal feuds and chaotic maneuvering that have come to define the Republican Party as much as its ideological and policy positions.
To Trump, Good’s biggest crime was supporting Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in last year’s presidential election. Good subsequently endorsed the former president and, despite receiving a cease-and-desist letter from the Trump campaign, put Trump’s name on a campaign lawn sign in letters as large as his own. Trump told voters that Good would “betray you just like he did me,” and urged them to vote “against Bob Good.”
Goode was also McCarthy’s biggest target, as the former House Republican leader was on a quest for revenge against him and the seven other Republicans who voted to oust Goode from his position as speaker last year. Before voting to oust Goode, Goode had frequently harassed McCarthy in an attempt to shift the House’s agenda further to the right and was part of a group of traitors who occupied the chamber and disrupted legislative efforts. McCarthy accused Goode of inciting opposition to his leadership going back to 2022.
McCarthy’s allies, such as the mainstream Republican group Main Street Partnership, have poured money into the campaign to support Maguire, even though he bears little resemblance to the more moderate Republicans the group typically supports.
“Tuesday’s results also show confusion within the Republican Party,” said David Richards, a political science professor at the University of Lynchburg in Virginia. “Are they going to support someone that Trump likes, or are they going to support someone who has been very committed to far-right policies for the last four years? This isn’t an ideological divide, it’s a divide based on a cult of personality.”
There was little difference between the two far-right candidates on the issues at stake: Both are America First isolationists who want to police the southern border, block aid to Ukraine and cut government spending.
Trump and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Republican of Georgia, sided with Maguire. Goode was supported by former Trump adviser Stephen K. Bannon and former Trump chief of staff and Freedom Caucus founder Mark Meadows. Bannon helped garner support for Goode among the Trump-loving, McCarthy-hating listeners of her podcast, “The War Room.”
“Trump is beloved in this district,” Bannon said. “The only thing that could tarnish his reputation is his association with Kevin McCarthy.”
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