FALLS CHURCH, Virginia – One of the most conservative U.S. congressmen is facing a serious primary challenge after his opponent was endorsed by former President Donald Trump, while voters in two other districts are nominating candidates to fill two open seats in Virginia’s primary election, Tuesday. fair.
Rep. Bob Good, who chairs the far-right House Freedom Caucus, is seeking a third term representing Virginia’s 5th Congressional District, but state Sen. John McGuire has mounted a strong challenge that highlights friction in the party.
Meanwhile, in House District 7, voters chose Eugene Vindman in a crowded Democratic primary to try to hold the seat vacated by U.S. Rep. Abigail Spanberger, a popular candidate running for governor in 2025.
Across the state, voters chose Hung Cao as the Republican candidate for U.S. Senate to face Democrat Tim Kaine.
Here’s a look at the key battles at the ballot box:
Conventional politics might suggest that a congressman with Good’s conservative credentials would be safe in the primary. But he earned Trump’s ire when he endorsed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for president. He went back to Trump after DeSantis dropped out, but Trump is endorsing McGuire and portraying Good as a traitor.
Trump continued to attack Good while campaigning for McGuire in a telephone rally Monday night.
“Unlike Bob Good, John McGuire will not let you down,” Trump said, adding that McGuire is “strong on the border” and “will always defend the Second Amendment under siege.”
Good, for his part, says he considers Trump the best president of his life and only supported DeSantis because Trump is constitutionally limited to just one more term.
Good also alienated Republican members by voting in favor remove House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, throwing the party into a measure of chaos.
Looking to capitalize is McGuire, a state lawmaker and former Navy SEAL who has echoed Trump’s attacks on Good, calling him a “never Trumper.”
Good criticized McGuire as a serial activist who announced his candidacy for Congress just a week after winning election to a four-year term in the state Senate.
If Good loses, he would be the first House incumbent to face a primary challenge this year, with the exception of one race in which two incumbents faced off over redistricting.
The winner will face Democrat Gloria Tinsley Witt, who defeated Gary Terry and Paul Riley.
The 5th Congressional District stretches from Charlottesville in the north, through the far western suburbs of Richmond, through Lynchburg and down to Danville and the North Carolina border.
Vindman, a political newcomer who was nonetheless known to voters for his role in Trump’s first impeachment, won the Democratic nomination in the 7th Congressional District for what will be a closely watched congressional seat in November.
Vindman, who crushed her opponents in fundraising, won in a crowded seven-person field that included four black women, all current or former public office holders in Prince William County, a suburban area outside the nation’s capital that constitutes most of the district. .
The former Army officer gained some fame when he and his twin brother, Alex, reported their concerns about Trump’s 2019 call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in which Trump sought an investigation into Biden and his son, Hunter.
Vindman highlighted his opposition to Trump in his campaign and in a victory declaration issued Tuesday night said that “our grassroots movement is moving toward the extreme MAGA agenda. Virginia voters are, first and foremost, driven by values and want to elect leaders with integrity who preserve fundamental rights and freedoms and are not extremists.”
He faced criticism from some local officials who said he had no connection to the region’s political dynamics.
In a battle between a former Army Green Beret and a former Navy SEAL, Republican voters chose military man Derrick Anderson over Navy veteran Cameron Hamilton.
Anderson and Hamilton were the top two fundraisers in a six-person field. Anderson won the support of House Republican Party leadership in Washington, while Hamilton had the support of members of the House Freedom Caucus.
The district, which stretches from Prince William County south to Fredericksburg and west past Culpeper, leans slightly toward Democrats.
The race to succeed Democratic U.S. Rep. Jennifer Wexton has drawn a field of 12 Democrats.
Democratic candidates include former Virginia House Speaker Eileen Filler-Corn, state senators Dan Helmer, Suhas Subramanyam and Jennifer Boysko, and former Virginia Secretary of Education Atif Qarni. Wexton endorsed Subramanyam.
Republican voters chose Mike Clancy from among four candidates.
In Virginia’s coastal 2nd Congressional District, Missy Cotter Smasala Navy veteran who runs a nonprofit that honors fallen military servicewomen, defeated Jeremiah “Jake” Denton IV, a constitutional law and civil rights attorney, in the Democratic primary.
She will face Republican U.S. Rep. Jen Kiggans in November.
In a statement Tuesday night, Smasal took aim at Kiggans and “the MAGA extremism she supports in Congress.”
“I will protect abortion rights and access for all and fight for resources for veterans and military families,” Smasal said. “I will always defend democracy and reject partisan extremism.”
In the Republican primaries for the US Senate, Cao Navy Veteran prevailed over his four opponents for a chance to try to unseat Kaine, a Democrat seeking his third term as junior U.S. senator.
Cao had the most money and previous campaign experience running for top official among the Republican primary candidates. He also had Trump’s endorsement.
In a victory post on Facebook, Cao immediately criticized President Joe Biden’s decision on Tuesday allow spouses of certain U.S. citizens without legal status to eventually apply for citizenship.
“Tomorrow we will begin our campaign to save the country that saved my life,” said Cao. “I spent twenty-five years in the Navy, while Tim Kaine spent thirty years in elected office.”
Dog defeated Scott Parkinsonformer congressional staffer DeSantis, as well as Jonathan Emord, an author and lawyer who frequently cites his legal battles against the Food and Drug Administration. The other Republican candidates were Eddie Garcia, a U.S. Army veteran who has a mobile app that serves veterans, and Chuck Smith, a former commander of the Navy Judge Advocate Corps and a lawyer.
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Finley contributed to this report from Norfolk.
