House Freedom Caucus chair concedes Virginia primary to Trump-backed foe after recount

By Ethan Cohen and Arit John, CNN

(CNN) — House Freedom Caucus Chair Bob Good, who was targeted for defeat by former President Donald Trump, conceded the Republican primary in Virginia’s 5th Congressional District after a recount Thursday.

“While I am disappointed in the ultimate outcome, it has been my distinct honor to serve as the congressional representative for Virginia’s 5th District over the past 3.5 years,” Good said in a statement on Facebook.

Good requested the recount, which he had to fund, after the certified results of the June 18 primary found him 374 votes, or 0.6 percentage points, behind state Sen. John McGuire.

With his defeat, Good becomes the third House member to lose a primary this year. In March, Rep. Jerry Carl lost an all-incumbent Republican primary in Alabama to Rep. Barry Moore in March after both ran for the same seat following redistricting. And in June, Democrat Jamaal Bowman, a member of the “squad” of progressive lawmakers, lost a primary for his New York City-area seat.

The race for Virginia’s 5th District, which encompasses Charlottesville and parts of south-central Virginia, saw a fierce effort to oust Good from a broad swath of the GOP. Good lost Trump’s support after he endorsed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in the 2024 Republican presidential primary. And as one of the chief architects of the move to oust Kevin McCarthy as House speaker last fall, Good also drew the ire of McCarthy’s allies, who spent millions seeking revenge.

The candidates and outside groups poured more than $14 million in ad spending into the race – the most expensive House Republican primary of the cycle to date. Groups opposing Good spent about $7.5 million, while those backing the incumbent spent $5.6 million on their efforts. One anti-Good ad painted him as disloyal to Trump and featured a clip of him criticizing the former president. Others targeted his votes against government funding bills.

McGuire also narrowly outraised Good through May 29, federal records show, bringing in $1.2 million to his opponent’s $1.1 million.

Good had to weather direct attacks from Trump, who held a tele-rally for McGuire on the eve of the election in which he attacked the incumbent for not being sufficiently supportive.

“If he’s reelected, Bob Good will stab Virginia in the back, sort of like he did with me,” Trump told supporters on the call.

Good had sought to get back into Trump’s good graces once it became clear that the former president, and not DeSantis, would be the 2024 Republican nominee. He even appeared in New York City outside Trump’s hush money trial, along with other Republicans seeking to show their support and devotion to Trump. Both Good and McGuire rode in Trump’s motorcade on the way to the Manhattan courthouse.

Despite those efforts, Trump declared on social media that Good was “BAD FOR VIRGINIA, AND BAD FOR THE USA.” Trump’s campaign also sent the congressman’s team a cease-and-desist letter over signage that it said falsely implied that the former president had endorsed Good.

Following the recount Thursday, McGuire said on social media that the exercise “reaffirmed what we already knew from the June 18th primary.”

The state senator heads into the general election as the favorite against Democrat Gloria Witt in a district that Trump would have carried by 8 points in 2020 under the current lines.

CNN’s Andrew Menezes contributed to this report.

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