Virginia Delegate John McGuire (R-Goochland) sharply criticized Representative Bob Good (R-VA-05) in a Thursday appearance on The John Fredericks Show, claiming Good harbors hatred for former President Donald Trump. McGuire launched a primary challenge against Good immediately after winning election to the Virginia State Senate.
McGuire argued to host John Fredericks, who is the publisher of The Virginia Star, that Good is a political enemy of the former president, fails to represent the voters in his district, and contributed to Virginia Republicans’ loss of the Virginia House of Delegates in November.
“Bob Good hates Trump,” McGuire (pictured above, left) argued. “In 2016 he put Jeb Bush, Chris Christie, Marco Rubio, all of them way ahead of Trump, and then when Trump won the primary he was still attacking Trump. When you attack Trump in 2016, in the general election, you’re helping the Democrats.”
Turning to Good’s recent re-election in 2022, McGuire said, “He begged Trump for an endorsement, Trump endorsed him, and he ran on that brand and that name.”
Noting that Good later endorsed Governor Ron DeSantis (R-FL) for the Republican presidential nomination, McGuire told Fredericks, “You must really hate Trump if you beg him for an endorsement, you win on his name, and less than a year later, when he gets a ridiculous indictment, you go ahead and endorse DeSantis.”
McGuire added, “He endorsed DeSantis before DeSantis even entered the presidential race.”
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McGuire also told Fredericks that Good should have worked to prevent the ouster of former Representative Kevin McCarthy as House Speaker, which Good voted for, until after the Virginia elections on November 7, 2023. According to McGuire, the fallout from the ouster contributed to the Democrats’ victories in Virginia.
“He was part of that eight person effort to get rid of the Speaker right before the Virginia elections. If you want to get rid of the Speaker, that’s fine, but why couldn’t you wait until after November 7?” McGuire argued, “They did it right before the Virginia elections, which told voters in Virginia that Republicans can’t govern, and we lost the Senate by 2,000 votes.”
Fredericks expressed skepticism, but McGuire insisted that McCarthy’s removal swayed a critical number of independents.
“They had no plan,” said McGuire. “I really like Mike Johnson, I never met him but he sounds great,” but “now Bob Good is in the newspaper comparing him to John Boehner. Anybody who knows anything about John Boehner, Mike Johnson is not John Boehner. Now [Good] is talking about, ‘Maybe we need to take out the new Speaker.'”
He said, “He’s not a team player. He’s never been part of a team.”
Fredericks also asked McGuire about the December publication of an edited video that showed Good repeatedly questioning Trump’s credentials as a conservative and ability to win an election against President Joe Biden while stressing that he does not “say this publicly.”
In response, McGuire referenced a previous report in which Good challenged a reporter to find evidence he criticized the former president.
“Here’s a clear example of him saying, ‘I would never personally or publicly say anything bad about Trump,’ but here he was lying,” McGuire continued. “He was doing that. So what else is he lying about?”
An internal poll obtained by The Star revealed that McGuire had the support of 24 percent of Republicans in the district compared to 46 percent who supported Good. However, when pollsters read voters “a series of messaging statements both outlining Good’s vulnerabilities and outlining McGuire’s accomplishments and achievements,” the state lawmaker beat Good with 64 percent of support.
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Georgia Star News, The Virginia Star, and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “John McGuire” by John McGuire.
