Republican Rep. Bob Good, chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, is trying to fend off a primary challenger backed by powerful Republicans including former President Donald Trump and former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Tuesday.
Good’s primary in Virginia’s deep-red 5th District is among the most competitive races to be decided on Tuesday, and he could become the first incumbent lawmaker to lose to a primary opponent this year. Along with Virginia, Oklahoma will also hold its primaries on Tuesday, and Georgia will hold a runoff.
Good’s opponent, state Sen. John McGuire, is supported by some of Good’s House colleagues, as well as Trump and McCarthy. The two Republicans were separated by just a few percentage points, with more than half of the votes counted in the district.
Good drew Trump’s ire by endorsing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for president, and he is on McCarthy’s radar as one of eight Republicans who voted to impeach the former president late last year.
Millions of dollars in ads blanketed the 5th District airwaves, as McCarthy’s allies targeted Good. The two-term incumbent, however, received encouragement from outside groups linked to the Freedom Caucus, the Club for Growth Action and Kentucky GOP Sen. Rand Paul.
Oklahoma Republican Rep. Tom Cole was also on the defense Tuesday, but defeated his primary opponent in the primary, businessman Paul Bondar, who spent millions of dollars of his own money on the race. Cole, who chairs the powerful House Appropriations Committee, received a boost from Trump in the race and recently told NBC News that Trump’s endorsement was “extremely helpful” as he faced the most competitive and expensive primary since he was first elected. time in 2002.
Bondar lent his campaign $5.1 million of his own money, launching ads that accused Cole of losing touch with the 4th District and spending too much time in the nation’s capital. Bondar also said that Cole was not conservative enough, pointing to Cole’s support for government spending and aid to Ukraine.
Cole and his allies blanketed the airwaves with advertisements accusing Bondar of actually being a Texan. Bondar owns property in Oklahoma outside the 4th District, but voted in the Texas primary in March.
Elsewhere in Virginia on Tuesday, Republican voters chose Navy veteran Hung Cao to face Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine in November, NBC News projects. Cao, who had Trump’s support in the race, led the Republican field in fundraising and defeated two other Republican candidates.
Cao ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 2022, losing to Democratic Representative Jennifer Wexton by nearly 7 points. He will face a tough race against Kaine, who is running for a third term in a state that has sent Democrats to the Senate in recent years. Biden won the state by 10 points in 2020 and Kaine won a second term in 2018 by 17 points.
In the House, Democrats are also choosing a candidate to face Republican Rep. Jen Kiggans in the 2nd District, and both parties are choosing their nominees in the open 7th and 10th Districts.
Retired Army Colonel Yevgeny “Eugene” Vindman is expected to win the Democratic nomination in the 7th District, giving Democrats a high-profile candidate with military experience and strong fundraising abilities. by Democratic Rep. Abigail Spanberger, another strong fundraiser with national security experience, to run for governor.
Vindman gained national notoriety during Trump’s first impeachment trial when he and his brother raised concerns, from their position on the National Security Council, about Trump’s 2019 phone conversation with the Ukrainian president. time, he was far from being. and-away was the best fundraiser in the race and received encouragement from outside groups on the airwaves when running against more experienced local politicians.
He will face Derrick Anderson, a former Green Beret, and Cameron Hamilton, a former Navy SEAL, the two leading Republicans running in a primary that has become a showdown between the establishment and insurgent wings of their party.
Kiggans will face Democrat Missy Cotter Smasal, a military veteran who was supported by all Democratic members of the Virginia House. This is a swing district that will likely be competitive in the fall, but Kiggans has a significant fundraising advantage and defeated a Democratic candidate there to win the seat in 2022.
Georgia will also hold its runoff elections in which no candidate won a majority of votes in the March primary.
In the Democratic-leaning 2nd District, activist Chuck Hand, who pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor related to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack, lost the runoff for the Republican nomination.
And Trump’s former White House political director, Brian Jack, is expected to win the GOP primary runoff against state Sen. Mike Dugan. The Republican will be the heavy favorite to win in November to replace retiring Republican Representative Drew Ferguson.
This story originally appeared on NBCNews.com read the full story
