GOOCHLAND — A three-judge panel in Goochland County said recount results confirmed that state Sen. John McGuire defeated incumbent U.S. Rep. Bob Good in June’s 5th Congressional District Republican primary.
Throughout Thursday, county clerks from the 24 localities in the 5th District made their way to Goochland Circuit Court to deliver election recounts to the panel led by Charlottesville Circuit Judge Claude Worrell.
Official election results said McGuire won by 374 votes or 0.6%. The margin was large enough that Good, the “apparent loser” according to state code, would have to pay for the recount. The Federal Elections Commission ruled in July that Good could use campaign funds to finance the proceedings.
Good is estimated to pay about $100,000 for the recount, which earned him four additional votes. The new tallies were 31,586 votes for McGuire and 31,216 for Good.
Shortly after the court adjourned, Good conceded in a statement.
“While I am disappointed in the ultimate outcome, it has been my distinct honor to serve as the congressional representative for Virginia’s 5th District over the past 3.5 years,” he said, according to The Associated Press.
The race was one of the most closely watched in the country and one of the few instances in which an incumbent member of congress lost a primary.
Former President Donald Trump endorsed McGuire after Good backed Trump’s own Republican presidential primary challenger, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Good later endorsed Trump after DeSantis dropped out of the race.
Speaking to reporters before the judge read the verdict, McGuire said he was able to build a large coalition, comparing it to those of former President Ronald Reagan and Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin.
Good’s role as the chair of the conservative Freedom Caucus, which enabled the ouster of former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, also put more attention on the race.
Almost $11 million in outside money poured into the district, according to the Virginia Public Access Project. VPAP’s tracker found multimillion-dollar expenditures supporting and opposing both candidates with the largest share — just under $3.6 million — categorized as anti-Good.
The Washington, D.C.-based super PAC Defending Main Street — mainly affiliated with center-leaning Republican politicians, including McCarthy — spent over $450,000 on ads backing McGuire; a Club for Growth-funded PAC backed Good, mostly through anti-McGuire spending.
The race centered on personality and questions of loyalty to Trump, rather than politics, as both candidates shared many views, including restricting abortion access, limiting immigration, reducing taxes and regulations, and trafficking in conspiracy theories that President Joe Biden’s 2020 election win was illegitimate.
Good said he’d request a recount days after the election results were certified, after implying that the election was tampered with. Virginia Election Commissioner Susan Beals addressed those allegations specifically during the election certification.
The day before the recount, the two candidates attacked one another: McGuire’s campaign sent out a press release calling Good a “backstabbing trash talker,” and Good questioned McGuire’s honesty.
Small groups of Goochland election officials counted votes by feeding ballots into scanners in a mostly empty gymnasium Thursday. They worked quietly, save for the clip-clop of court officials’ heels or the occasional discussion of whether to set aside a ballot after a scanner beeped — indicating that the ballot was for the Democratic primary or needed to be checked by hand, according to the Department of Elections guide to hand-counting ballots.
The proceedings were not open to the public; members of the media needed advance permission to watch. Three Goochland Sheriff's deputies stood guard and prohibited electronic devices to prevent audio or video recording.
“We have a very competent team, but you never know,” McGuire told reporters Thursday before the recount was finalized. “We looked at every pathway to victory on June 18, and there was no pathway for my opponent. So, with all due respect, we were focusing on the general election.”
