It's official: Good was ousted by McGuire in 2024 Republican primary

Your guide to local elections in 12 central Virginia counties

U.S. Rep. Bob Good is out of the 5th Congressional District race for his seat in the U.S. House — officially. Yesterday, registrars across the district recounted ballots from the Republican primary election and confirmed their results from June 18.

State Sen. John McGuire defeated Good. McGuire will be the Republican candidate for U.S. Congress in Virginia’s 5th District, a large block of central Virginia that begins just north of Charlottesville and spans south to the North Carolina border. It’s a mostly conservative district, which could give McGuire an edge over his Democratic challenger Gloria Tinsley Witt, from Amherst County, in the November election.

There’s been a lot of coverage of the Republican primary recount. According to POLITICO, Good was “burned” by his own “scorched earth tactics.” Basically, he made many enemies during his time as congressman, and they all joined forces to support his rival in the primary. That list of enemies included former President Donald Trump, who supported Good in 2020, but supported McGuire this time around.

A man in a suit jacket speaks outside into a microphone. Behind him is an American flag. In front of him are two men watching.

The recount was always a long shot for Good. It was allowed by Virginia state law only because McGuire’s victory was by less than 1% of the votes. But because it was more than 0.5%, Good had to pay for the recount himself, as reported by the Daily Progress. It cost nearly $100,000.

This report from Cardinal News goes behind the scenes of Thursday’s recount to show you why the price tag for a recount is that much.

Looking forward to the November general election between McGuire and Witt, we will be sending both candidates new Q&As this year based on the responses we get on our 2024 voter survey.

McGuire won a seat in the Virginia Senate for the 10th District last year in an uncontested race. We sent him a questionnaire based on the issues voters raised in our 2023 voter survey. He didn’t respond.

Witt is new to politics. The Star Tribune wrote a brief article about her when she entered the Democratic primary.