Rep. Bob Good (R-VA) is brushing off the Trump campaign’s threats to oust him from his Virginia House seat as he faces a primary challenge from a local lawmaker who has closely aligned himself with the former president.
Good, the chairman of the conservative Freedom Caucus, became the subject of former President Donald Trump’s ire last year after he threw his support behind Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for the GOP presidential nomination, making him one of just a half-dozen House Republicans to do so. The endorsement prompted anger from the former president’s allies, who largely view support for other candidates as a sign of disloyalty.
Good’s support for DeSantis has also attracted at least one Republican to challenge the incumbent in the GOP primary: state Sen. John McGuire. Although Trump has not endorsed McGuire in the race, his campaign has turned up the rhetoric against Good in recent weeks.
“Bob Good won’t be electable when we get done with him,” Chris LaCivita, a senior adviser to Trump’s presidential campaign, told the Cardinal News.
Good, for his part, defended himself against the threat when asked about it on Wednesday, telling reporters he is “not thinking about” it.
“I think people in the 5th District of Virginia like what I’m doing, I’ve kept my word,” he further told Punchbowl News. “I’ve been the kind of consistent conservative that they elected me to be.”
The comments from Trump’s campaign mark the latest divide among Republicans as they wade into the 2024 cycle, with only a handful of lawmakers publicly coming out in opposition to the former president. But for those who do, Trump has gone on the offensive — even going so far as to call for primary challengers to replace them in Congress.
Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX), who also endorsed DeSantis and has served as a surrogate for the Florida governor’s campaign, is no stranger to these attacks.
Trump called for a primary candidate to challenge Roy late last year, accusing the Texas Republican of being a “Republican in Name Only,” or RINO. However, by that point, the filing deadline had already passed with no Republicans challenging Roy for the seat.
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The recent attacks also put Trump at odds with two of the most high-profile conservatives in the House, including Good, who was just elected as chairman of the House Freedom Caucus late last year.
Only six Republicans in the House have endorsed DeSantis for the GOP nomination, compared to 117 who have backed Trump, including all four of the top GOP leaders in the lower chamber. So far, Trump has dominated the 2024 primary cycle, winning the Iowa caucuses earlier this week by a wide margin and leading candidates in the polls for other early primary states.
