Donald Trump clashes with his allies in Bob Good’s bitter Virginia primary

Rep. Bob Good’s (R-Va.) Tuesday primary in Virginia’s 5th Congressional District is putting former President Trump against some of his key allies and inflaming bitter ideological tensions in the Republican Party.

O contentious race could result in the first House primary defeat in 2024 — and the first success of former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s (R-Calif.) revenge campaigns against those who voted to impeach him.

Last month, Trump endorsed Good’s challenger, John McGuire, a Virginia state senator and Navy SEAL, in an apparent act of revenge.

Good is the chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, the hard-line conservative group that has often been aligned with the former president. But he was also one of the few House Republicans to endorse Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Florida) for president in the GOP primary. Although Good avoided criticism of Trump and quickly supported the former president after DeSantis’ departure, Trump said his endorsement was “too late.”

“The damage was done!” Trump wrote in Truth Social.

McGuire is also being supported by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), who last year split from the Freedom Caucus after tense clashes with other members of the group, and has consistently criticized Good.

But many of Trump’s other staunch defenders in Congress are backing the second-term Virginia Republican, including Reps. Matt Gaetz (R-Florida) and Byron Donalds (R-Florida), a presumptive Trump running mate.

Good this week ignored questions about whether he regretted endorsing DeSantis.

“It’s time to support President Trump. I’m not focused on an endorsement from 13 months ago,” Good said.

“It’s going to be difficult whenever a former president comes out against you — I think without merit … He has some bad advice,” Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) said of Trump’s endorsement. Roy is a member of the Freedom Caucus who supports Good and also supports DeSantis.

“But everything is fine. Let’s go down and fight,” Roy added.

However, Trump allies who support McGuire say Good’s decision to support DeSantis in the wake of the former president’s legal charges struck a deeply personal nerve with the former president.

“One supported Trump, the other stabbed Trump and the movement in the back and that’s what this campaign is about,” said John Fredericks, a conservative radio talk show host who chaired Trump’s presidential campaign in Virginia in 2016 and 2020. .

Despite not receiving Trump’s endorsement, Good linked himself to the former president in his messages to constituents.

“The yard signs say ‘Trump Republican,’” said Zack Roday, a Virginia Republican strategist based in the district. “In all the correspondence…it says ‘will approve Trump’s agenda.’”

While lawmakers on Capitol Hill are making their own political calculations about who to support in the primary, it’s less clear how voters in the district are reacting to Trump’s endorsement.

“This is very much inside baseball,” Roday said, referring to the intrigue surrounding Trump’s endorsement. “It’s important for fundraising, it’s important for those elements, but for what actually impacts a vote in the district, it’s not that.”

Roday added that overall, Trump’s endorsement is “undoubtedly helpful” in the district.

Even though he didn’t get his endorsement, Good attended Trump’s speech to House Republicans outside the Capitol this week – during which Trump singled out one of the members who voted to impeach him, Rep. David Valadão (R-Calif.), and commented that some other people in the room might not like him very much. Upon leaving the meeting, Good refused to answer reporters’ questions.

Good, who unseated former Rep. Denver Riggleman (R-Va.) at the district’s 2020 nominating convention, has never run in a primary nominating process. An unnamed Republican strategist referred to Good as “an incumbent with an asterisk.”

Additionally, the district has since been redistricted, expanding lines as far east as Goochland County in the Richmond region.

Strategists say that could represent an advantage for McGuire, who has represented the greater Richmond region in the state Senate and House of Delegates.

“If McGuire can clear where he represents by getting a huge margin, then I imagine it will be very difficult because the rest of the district will know that Trump is behind him,” Roday said.

Recent polls show McGuire leading Good. A poll released Wednesday by the conservative Virginia Faith and Freedom Coalition found McGuire leading between 41% and 31%. Twenty-nine percent of voters said they were undecided.

“The problem that Bob is facing is not just the fact that he supported DeSantis, it’s not just the fact that he votes the way he does, or voted against McCarthy or anything like that – although he did help us create a coalition very interesting”, said Virginia, who was not identified. based strategist.

“What Bob left to be desired was not having done the work in his first two terms to present himself to his people, to represent them”, continued the strategist. “He would go to D.C., try to find a camera and then come home.”

Good’s decision to join seven other Republicans and all Democrats in voting to recall McCarthy last year is also fueling support for McGuire.

McCarthy’s Majority Committee PAC donated $10,000 to McGuire’s campaign.

If defeated, Good’s defeat would mark the first success of McCarthy’s revenge campaign against those who voted to remove him. Rep. Nancy Mace (RS.C.), one of those who helped unseat him, won her primary last week. McCarthy’s PAC donated $10,000 to Mace’s main rival.

McCarthy’s vote to recall Good also inspired a good number of members of the Republican Party to support McGuire, especially members who ideologically oppose him and the hard-line tactics of the Freedom Caucus.

“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 members supporting McGuire.

“If I were the coach of a team, and one of the team members – say, a baseball team – was cutting people’s shoelaces in the dugout before the game, I would fire that person because he or she is not on the team.” , said Van Orden.

It’s part of a broader trend of Republicans supporting challengers to their incumbent colleagues this cycle in an attempt to eliminate their ideological and tactical enemies.

“The overall goal is to move this conference in the direction that is best for the American people,” Roy said of his support for Good.

Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) said he decided to support McGuire as a response to Good’s endorsement of his own far-right opponent — who Bacon defeated earlier this year.

“If you are going to bomb my Pearl Harbor, I will destroy two of your cities. That’s my mindset,” Bacon said.

Roy noted that there were other members who supported McGuire before Good supported Bacon’s challenger.

Several colleagues from Good’s Freedom Caucus — Roy, Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.) and Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) — went to campaign events for Good in his district in the days leading up to the primary.

“He is a very conservative and strong leader and a member who supports and defends the constitution. So he’s exactly the kind of member we want,” Clyde said.