Bob Good says he can still ‘prevail’ in close Virginia race

House Freedom Caucus Chair Bob Good (R) said Wednesday that he “can still prevail” in the tight Republican primary for his Virginia seat, which remained 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,” Good said in a post on the social platform X, noting that provisional and mail-in ballots are 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,” the congressman said. 

His primary challenger, state Sen. John McGuire, declared victory Tuesday night, though the race had not been called. 

“There are still a few votes left to count, but it’s clear that all paths end with a victory,” McGuire said in a post on X just after midnight Eastern. 

Former President Trump and former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) were both aligned with McGuire, and many expected the incumbent to be easily knocked out of his reelection bid for the deep-red central Virginia seat — but the nail-biter race was still up in the air Wednesday afternoon. 

With 95 percent of votes reported at the time of publication, McGuire was ahead by fewer than 400 votes. There are no automatic recounts in Virginia, though candidates can request one when there’s a difference of no more than 1 percentage point. 

The race has been seen as a key test of both Trump and McCarthy’s influence. Trump backed McGuire after Good initially supported Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in the Republican presidential primary, and McCarthy targeted the Virginia lawmaker after he voted to oust him from the Speakership last year.

If Good loses his seat, it will mark the first House incumbent loss to an outside challenger this cycle.