Recount confirms Bob Good’s loss after GOP rallies to oust one of their own

Rep. Bob Good is notorious for the scorched-earth tactics he has repeatedly used as the leader of the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus.

He just got burned by them.

In just two terms, Good built enemies in every wing of the Republican Party — and that opposition came out in force to align itself with state Sen. John McGuire, who defeated Good to clinch the GOP nomination for a red-leaning seat in south-central Virginia after an official recount of the June 18 primary concluded Thursday.

Good requested the recount after the initial results were within a one-point margin. The race was so close that Good was behind by just a few hundred votes in the final count, enough that the Associated Press could not call the race.

More than a month later, the Thursday recount confirmed the outcome: Good had been ousted, The Associated Press said, unable to make up the roughly 400-vote deficit out of more than 62,000 ballots cast in June. It is a stunning defeat; Good was taken down by neither personal scandal nor an ideological challenge but because of his caustic approach toward his fellow members as well as his alienation of Donald Trump. His loss is even more striking because House Republicans have moved to the right in recent years.

But the Virginia firebrand had made too many foes too quickly.

His determination to block part of the GOP’s legislative agenda by any means necessary made him unpopular with his colleagues. He endorsed Ron DeSantis’ presidential bid even before the Florida governor had entered the race against Trump. Months later, he joined with seven other members last fall to defenestrate former Speaker Kevin McCarthy. And then he needlessly inserted himself into the primaries of his Republican colleagues, spurring personal grievances that compelled them to return the favor.

“Bob Good is universally recognized to be an asshole,” said Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-Wis.), who endorsed McGuire.

Good had vowed to request a recount, one that he had to pay for, even as votes were still being counted. And he quickly started to sow doubt about the result, making false claims about disruptions at polling places that he suggested signaled impropriety. But McGuire’s margin of victory, while small, is still in the hundreds of ballots.

The hunger for vengeance against Good came from a wide swath of the GOP. McCarthy and his allies made him the biggest target of their efforts to unseat the members who propelled the speaker’s ouster, and super PACs aligned with them poured millions into the primary. Trump endorsed McGuire and used his megaphone to promote him, irritated that Good had initially backed DeSantis.

And colleagues who had fended off challengers endorsed by Good paid him back. Rep. William Timmons (R-S.C.) showed up with volunteers in the closing days of the race to knock on doors for McGuire, and Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) directed his donors toward the state senator.

Even a member of the Freedom Caucus, Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio), took the shocking step of backing McGuire. Defending Main Street, which works to elect mainstream Republicans, was so disenchanted by Good that it broke its unofficial rule of not actively opposing GOP incumbents.

"The recount confirmed what we already knew … Good lost. The only difference now is he is poorer. Time to rally behind America's real warriors for freedom,” said Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-Mont.), a former Navy SEAL whose SEAL PAC backed McGuire.

In an earlier interview, Zinke said Republicans who banded together to oust Good did so because he’s “destructive to the Republican party, Congress, the Freedom Caucus. And, most importantly, Good was destructive to the people in his district.”

Good does have his defenders, including his Freedom Caucus allies and Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), who argue he is a crucial independent voice. He also had a strong show of support from local elected officials in the district who were backing his reelection bid.

“Could that be why the swamp is not attracted to someone like Bob Good — because Good is not here for power?” said Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) at a rally for Good just days before the primary. “That Bob’s there and willing to take on the hard fights?”

Good also received support from the anti-tax Club for Growth, which is known for antagonizing others in the GOP, and the political arm of the House Freedom Caucus. Pro-Good groups spent nearly $5.5 million on ads to prop him up — Good himself did not have the money to run a single TV ad.

But McGuire’s supporters dumped even more money into the race: $7.5 million, including $6.9 million from groups with ties to McCarthy allies. In total, the race drew $14.5 million in outside spending, according to the ad tracking firm AdImpact.

Good slammed McGuire as a puppet who would vote in lockstep with his more mainstream GOP backers on legislation such as aid to Ukraine and Israel.

He contrasted that with his own votes, which he said aligned with the electorate: “What people up here in D.C. don’t understand is that I’m doing what the Republican voters in my district want me to do.”

Good had nearly survived — a likely testament to, among other things, the power of incumbency — but when those voters had their say, they fired him. Trump’s support for McGuire likely served to rile up the base.

When Good and McGuire traveled to New York in May to support Trump during his criminal trial, they found themselves face-to-face in a group meeting with the former president. Good sought to one-up his opponent in front of the GOP presidential candidate, but it appeared to backfire.

Talking to Trump, Good took a swipe at McGuire for refusing to debate. But the former president later turned to Good and asked how his endorsement of “Ron DeSanctimonious” was working out. Less than two weeks later, Trump endorsed McGuire, handing him crucial currency in a GOP primary.

Meanwhile, McCarthy’s allies ginned up the money.

Good was their best shot to push out one of the eight Republicans who had voted to strip McCarthy of his gavel. Reps. Ken Buck (R-Colo.) and Matt Rosendale (R-Mont.) chose not to run again. Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) was another target, but she won her primary.

This was Good’s first real primary battle. In 2020, he ousted then-Rep. Denver Riggleman in a convention of party delegates, who tend to be more conservative than the broader Republican electorate, and won renomination the same way in 2022.

“We said there will be consequences. Buck is gone. Rosendale quit,” said Brian O. Walsh, a top McCarthy lieutenant. “This was the one we wanted to get. Bye bye, Bob.”

Walsh personally traveled to the district in March to sit in on focus groups of GOP primary voters that tested messages for the anti-Good effort.

Those groups suggested a way to make a powerful ideological argument against Good: While voters in the district support fiscal conservatism, they also have spending priorities. Good’s votes against bills that would fund benefits for veterans and the armed forces could be weaponized to anger voters in a military-heavy district. That argument made it into an ad.

“He deserves to get what he was giving everybody else,” Bacon said. “We're gonna be a better place without him.”