by Sarah Roderick-Fitch
Tuesday’s Republican primary race for Virginia’s 5th Congressional District between state Sen. John McGuire and incumbent U.S. Rep. Bob Good is still too close to call.
McGuire (pictured above, left) holds a razor-thin lead of 313 votes, according to the latest numbers from the Virginia Department of Elections. Good, chairman of the Freedom Caucus, is holding on to hope that lingering votes will save his seat.
McGuire, endorsed by former President Donald Trump, has already claimed a pathway to victory. At the same time, Good has indicated the race is far from over and could possibly take “weeks” to complete.
In a social media post, Good wrote, “This race remains too close to call. We are in a period where the law provides a process for evaluating the accuracy of all the vote totals from Election Day to ensure everyone can have full confidence in the certified results. Provisional ballots and mail-in ballots are also still to be counted. We are asking for full transparency from the officials involved and patience from the people of the 5th District over the coming weeks as the certification of results is completed. We believe we can still prevail.”
Unlike some other states, Virginia doesn’t require an automatic recount despite the close race. If the vote count margin is still within 0.5% after provisional and mail-in ballots are counted, either of the candidates can request a recount to be paid for by the commonwealth.
McGuire appears to believe the process will ultimately lead to his victory.
In a social media post, he wrote, “Thank you to my family, thank you to everyone who helped out on this campaign, thank you to the people who endorsed and supported me, and thank you to Donald J. Trump for believing in me. There are still a few votes left to count, but it’s clear that all paths end with a victory.”
McGuire and Good have remained relatively quiet regarding the race since early Wednesday.
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Sarah Roderick-Fitch is The Center Square’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Editor. She has previously worked as an editor, and has been a contributing writer for several publications. In addition to writing and editing, Sarah spent nearly a decade working for non-profit, public policy organizations in the Washington, DC area.
Photo “John McGuire” by John McGuire. Photo “Bob Good” by House Creative Committee. Background Photo “Virginia State Capitol” by Martin Kraft CC BY-SA 3.0.
