The battle between the two ultra-conservatives was a heated one, with former President Donald Trump and the establishment party seeking to oust the far-right incumbent president. Goode endorsed McGuire, who declared victory about four hours after the polls closed on June 18, but Goode did not concede defeat that night and soon began expressing concerns about the integrity of the election.
The election was already expected to be subject to a recount, but state law allows a candidate who is deemed to have lost to request a recount if the margin of victory does not exceed 1% of the total votes cast. If the margin of victory does not exceed 0.5%, the state pays for the cost. Maguire’s unofficial 373-vote lead translates to 62,741 votes cast, a margin of 0.59%. The recount process cannot begin until state officials approve the recount. result.
McGuire again claimed victory in a statement released just before 5:30 p.m. Monday. “I am honored to have been selected to serve as your next Congressman,” he wrote. “With the final votes cast, the results of the 5th District election are final. I look forward to November and helping to bring about a victory for America First not only in Virginia but across the nation.” Trump appeared on Truth Social on Monday night to declare McGuire the winner.
Goode did not immediately issue a statement. On “X” last week, he said fire alarms at polling places in three jurisdictions on Election Day were suspicious. On Monday, he told former Trump adviser Stephen K. Bannon that ballot boxes at the Lynchburg Board of Elections “were left to be stuffed for two or three days after the election.”
“There are concerns in the data that indicate the trends and the data just don’t make sense,” Goode said on Bannon’s “War Room” show. Goode also called for donations for a recount on the show. “I won’t get into specifics on that because I don’t want to give the other party an advantage.”
Officials with the Lynchburg registrar’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday.
During his two terms in Congress, Goode gained a national reputation as a staunch conservative and was one of eight Republicans who joined forces with Democrats to oust House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.). As head of the far-right Freedom Caucus, Goode’s obstructionist tactics irritated more pragmatic Republicans in Congress but were generally well-received in his local district, where disrupting Washington’s business is considered a badge of honor.
But Goode drew Trump’s ire by endorsing Florida Governor Ron DeSantis for the May 2023 presidential election, then endorsing Trump after DeSantis withdrew in January, and was challenged by Maguire in the primary. Goode’s argument was that DeSantis was more conservative than Trump on issues such as abortion and guns. Goode also said the “burden” of Trump’s various prosecutions, including the New York hush money trial in which he was later convicted, could hurt him in the race.
Trump called Goode a traitor, endorsed Maguire, ran television ads in support of her and called into a televised rally for Goode on the eve of the election, even as Goode faced well-funded attacks from McCarthy and mainstream Republican groups.
Goode argued that the establishment’s money being funneled to McGuire proves his challenger is a RINO (Republican in Name Only), while McGuire argued that Goode was a closet moderate because he aligned with Democrats to oust McCarthy.
In reality, both men are far-right figures who have generally supported Trump, including backing his false claims that Democrats took the White House in 2020. Good voted against the certification of the 2020 election and rallied outside the Justice Department for defendants in the Capitol storming.
Maguire, who flies a Trump flag on the back of his Ford pickup truck, attended Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021 (though he says he did not storm the Capitol), and has promoted local screenings of “2000 Mules,” a badly-reviewed film that allegedly depicts voter fraud in the 2020 election.
“The principle McGuire was advocating was [avenging] “This is a personal affront to President Trump,” said Bob Holsworth, a veteran political analyst in Richmond.
The race produced strange political alliances, with Trump, McCarthy and various establishment figures all equally eager to get rid of Goode. To make matters even more confusing, some of Trump’s biggest allies, such as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), campaigned for Maguire in the district, while others broke with the former president to support Goode. For example, Bannon and Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) separately visited the district and headlined rallies for the incumbent.
Zach Roday, a Republican strategist who lives in the district but is not involved in either campaign, said a lot of “weird cross currents” have made the race “really hard to predict.”
“Supporting Donald Trump still means a lot. It’s a tough vertical to overcome,” he said, “but Trump is doing so against an incumbent who isn’t a Republican, an incumbent who’s not polling badly.”
Roday said Good’s steady, down-to-earth activism appears to be helping him remain competitive, even as Republican opponents unite in calling for his removal.
“Obviously, Bob Good has a good organization, he’s very well liked at the grassroots level, he has dedicated volunteers and supporters who appreciate his positions in Congress, and they’re going to appreciate what he’s up against,” said Good. [former] “He’s the chairman and he’s taking a hard line,” he said. “That creates tension.”
