U.S Rep. Bob Good, R-Campbell, speaks at a campaign rally in Powhatan County. (Charlotte Rene Woods/Virginia Mercury)
Even after an additional review of the recount results in the GOP primary in Virginia’s 5th Congressional District last week confirmed state Sen. John McGuire, R-Goochland, as the winner, some Republican hardliners in the district refuse to accept the former Navy SEAL who was endorsed by former President Donald Trump as their party’s nominee.
Instead, they have vowed to write in U.S. Rep. Bob Good, R-Farmville, the incumbent, who lost what has been deemed one of the most expensive and viciously fought nomination battles nationwide this year by a mere 366 votes out of more than 62,000 cast.
Outcome of 5th District GOP primary unchanged after further review of ballots
“Anyone with the right moral conviction would write in Bob Good, one of the 10 true conservatives left in Congress,” said Rob Reese, owner of the Virginia Archery Center in Goochland County and a member of a group of self-described “real conservatives” who are encouraging fellow Republicans in the district to write in Good on Nov. 5.
In a phone interview Tuesday, Reese painted McGuire as a RINO, a derogatory moniker meaning “Republican In Name Only,” who was handpicked by the GOP establishment in Washington, D.C., as part of an effort to replace true conservatives in Congress.
“The swamp has been trying to get rid of every conservative that they can get their hands on,” Reese said. The Republican Party — in Virginia and on the national level — “pulled the same garbage in District 5 that the Democrats pulled” when they replaced President Joe Biden with Vice President Kamala Harris as their presidential nominee.
“They just hid it better. You don’t primary the most conservative Congress member and replace him with a uni-party yes-boy,” Reese said, adding that the number of Republicans who insist on making Good their nominee has continued to grow despite the incumbent’s failed recount challenge.
“There’s thousands of us, enough to cause McGuire to lose the election unless he ponies up and talks to the people,” Reese said. “This isn’t a we-win game to me, it’s about the republic, and people taking the republic back from D.C., and I think they are more in a panic than they can believe.”
Many of the district’s Republicans air their differences on social media — like the Facebook group Virginia’s 5th Congressional District GOP Voters and even Good’s own campaign account on the platform.
Responding to a post from Good from last week in which he thanked the judges for their efforts to “address some mistakes that had been identified after the recount,” several of his supporters chimed in, thanking him for his service and encouraging others to join the write-in effort.
“Folks … write in Good for Congress! Express your anger, don’t vote McGuire, write in Bob! Mount the write in campaign, don’t let McGuire win that seat,” one commenter wrote.
Another told Good to “keep up the good work … and folks, please write Bob Good in come November, he’s the only choice we have for America First conservative constitutional representation.”
The comment prompted a response from a McGuire supporter: “Why do you keep telling people to write Bob in, are you trying to get a Democrat control? Cause that will happen if McGuire doesn’t receive all Republican votes. Bob Good lost, don’t have our state lose.”
McGuire will face Democrat Gloria Witt, a businesswoman and native of Amherst County, in the Nov. 5 election. Witt is fighting an uphill battle in a heavily Republican district where Trump won twice with 53% of the vote in 2016 and 2020.
But a significant amount of write-ins splitting the Republican vote could potentially put the district in play for Democrats, said David Richards, a political science professor at the University of Lynchburg.
“The 5th is a tricky district, it is clearly Republican-leaning, but the margin of the win has been all over the place. And in 2008 the Democratic Party won it by 800 votes, so I don’t think the McGuire campaign can just ignore a write-in effort on behalf of Bob Good,” Richards said.
And McGuire is facing several headwinds in his general election campaign, Richards added.
“There is the write-in campaign, ill-will left over from the primary, a small but vocal Republicans for Kamala Harris effort, a muted campaign so far from McGuire, a very active campaign from Democrat Gloria Witt, and general national excitement among Democrats that may elevate Democratic turnout. It is not clear that all of this will add up to enough to swing the district, but it certainly makes it more likely.”
Va. Republican voters, officials press for Harris over Trump
It remains unclear if the write-in effort by Good supporters would trigger Virginia’s so-called sore loser law, which was designed to ensure that when a candidate is defeated in a Republican or Democratic primary, they can’t drop their party affiliation and appear on the general election ballot next to the person who beat them.
Rich Anderson, the chairman of the Republican Party of Virginia, said in a phone interview Tuesday that under state party rules, “any member of a subunit of RPV who supports a candidate against a nominated Republican” is deemed to have resigned from the Republican Party and is prohibited from engaging in any party activity for a period of four years.
“That is a rule that I must and will enforce stringently in this or any future election cycle,” Anderson said.
Sean Brown, a spokesman for McGuire’s campaign, said while McGuire “is working hard to deliver Virginia for Donald Trump and build a conservative majority in the House and Senate,” Good and a “very small handful of his supporters” continue to undermine Trump.
“For the sake of the country, Bob should put his personal ambitions and hard feelings towards President Trump aside, and work to elect Trump and Trump-backed candidates,” Brown said.
But Good himself has not mounted a write-in campaign, and he has remained silent on the ongoing effort by his supporters. His campaign spokeswoman Diana Shores on Tuesday echoed Anderson’s remarks about the party rules and code of conduct.
“Individuals who are members of their local units are bound by the party plan to support the nominees. I am urging all Republicans to stay engaged with their Republican committees to do the work that needs to be done,” Shores said in a text message.
Gov. Glenn Youngkin has also vowed to step up and rally in support of McGuire in the 5th District, where the two will be joined by Anderson and Hung Cao, the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate in Virginia, at four events in Amherst, Bedford and Pittsylvania counties and the town of Altavista on Monday.
Matt Moran, the executive Director of Youngkin’s Spirit of Virginia PAC, said in a statement that the governor is “committed to bringing Republicans together around our nominees so we can win in November,” but he stopped short of singling out the grassroots write-in campaign for Good in the 5th District as a concern for McGuire’s bid.
“He’s campaigning with Republicans across Virginia on why we need strong leadership back in the White House and in Congress,” Moran said of Youngkin. “We are confident that Republicans are united as our campaigns gear up for the fall.”
But the governor’s efforts will likely fall on deaf ears among some of Good’s most loyal supporters who have long made up their minds.
Among them is Russ Simpson, owner of the Apple Shed & Chapel in Lovingston, who said that McGuire lost his vote because he did not debate Good during his primary campaign.
“When you’re running for office to represent me, you damn well better be a fighter. If you’re not willing to fight and to debate, then I’m not interested in supporting you, whether you’re a Republican or whatever,” Simpson said in a phone interview.
While he doesn’t support the policies of the Democratic Party, he is not willing to vote for a candidate just because he has an R by his name, Simpson added.
“There’s going to be a lot of people who will write in Bob Good, you’re looking at a significant amount of people, and that could play heavily into him losing. I don’t like being in this position but (McGuire) has put the whole district in a conundrum, and I wish there was a remedy to this situation,” Simpson said.
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