Nearly 24 hours after the polls closed in Virginia’s Fifth Congressional District, Rep. Bob Good, R-Campbell County, remained locked in a decent renomination contest in opposition to a major challenger endorsed by former President Donald Trump.
As of 5 p.m. Wednesday, Good had managed to barely shut the hole between himself and state Sen. John McGuire, R-Goochland County, to 309 votes out of a complete of 62,445 votes solid, placing the incumbent simply on the 0.5% margin that will qualify his marketing campaign to request a recount paid for by the state.
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McGuire, who was endorsed by Trump final month and who had made his marketing campaign a referendum on which candidate is a extra loyal supporter of the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, ended Tuesday night time up by 327 votes — a margin of 0.52%, which prompted him to declare victory simply after 11:30 p.m.
“Girls and gents, the votes are in and the folks have spoken, and it’s my honor to be your Republican nominee,” McGuire mentioned after taking the stage at his election night time celebration on the Virginian Lodge in Lynchburg, his opponent’s dwelling turf.
Minutes later, his marketing campaign fired off a press launch formally claiming victory as soon as once more.
“There are nonetheless a couple of votes left to rely, nevertheless it’s clear that every one paths finish with a victory,” the assertion attributed to McGuire mentioned. “People within the Fifth District can relaxation assured that ought to they elect me in November, they are going to have an efficient fighter in Congress who will get the job achieved for them. I stay up for working with Trump to beat Joe Biden in November and move Trump’s agenda in Congress. Trump and McGuire will Make America Nice Once more!”
Whereas McGuire’s transfer could have been untimely, Good didn’t reply to it on Tuesday. As an alternative, he ducked out of his election night time celebration at La Villa Italian Restaurant in Lynchburg earlier than midnight with out addressing his supporters or chatting with reporters gathered there.
U.S. Rep. Bob Good. Photograph by Rachel Mahoney.
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In a Fb put up on Wednesday morning, Good — who chairs the ultra-conservative Home Freedom Caucus — maintained that the race was nonetheless too near name and that the electoral course of wanted to run its course.
“We’re in a interval the place the regulation offers a course of for evaluating the accuracy of all of the vote totals from election day to make sure everybody can have full confidence within the licensed outcomes,” Good mentioned. “Provisional ballots and mail-in ballots are additionally nonetheless to be counted. We’re asking for full transparency from the officers concerned and persistence from the folks of the Fifth District over the approaching weeks because the certification of outcomes is accomplished. We consider we are able to nonetheless prevail.”
Diana Shores, Good’s marketing campaign supervisor, mentioned in a textual content message that whereas the canvassing began Wednesday, it will take days to finish: “Mail-in ballots should arrive on the registrars’ by Friday, so there are mail-in ballots out. Provisional ballots are being reviewed as effectively.”
When requested at what level Good would concede the election to McGuire, Shores didn’t reply straight. “We’re guaranteeing that every one the votes correctly solid are counted,” she mentioned.
For candidates working for public workplace with an finish date in thoughts, having to attend for the outcomes is a irritating expertise, mentioned Del. Chris Obenshain, R-Montgomery County, who defeated Democrat Lily Franklin in probably the most aggressive Home of Delegates races west of Richmond final yr.
“Each candidate hopes that Election Day is the end result of their onerous work, and it’s powerful when that finish date will get prolonged after you labored so onerous to get there. None of us like to sit down round and look ahead to one thing that’s out of our palms, as a result of at that time all of the votes have been solid,” mentioned Obenshain, who finalized his victory over Franklin in a really shut contest after an extra six days of poll tabulations.
Whereas Franklin managed to shut the hole considerably — from a margin of 943 all the way down to 183 votes, based on information from the Virginia Division of Elections — it wasn’t sufficient to push her over the sting. With all votes in, Obenshain topped Franklin with 50.31% to 49.57%.
Whereas ready for the ballots to be counted, he tried to go about his regular life, Obenshain mentioned in a telephone interview Wednesday.
“I went again to work the subsequent day, and I used to be working that complete week. However you even have your marketing campaign workers and people who find themselves monitoring every part, and clearly as a candidate you’re doing that as effectively.”
However when it’s only a matter of counting extra ballots, there’s not so much a candidate can do, Obenshain added.
“You usually wish to keep watch over the method and guarantee that that is being achieved appropriately, and that you’ve got your folks on the bottom ensuring that the provisional ballots are being counted appropriately, in addition to the absentee ballots which can be coming in late, and that every one these processes that we have now to make sure that the integrity of the election are being adopted.”
Miles Coleman, the affiliate editor of Sabato’s Crystal Ball on the Middle for Politics on the College of Virginia, mentioned in an electronic mail Wednesday that it does seem to be the Good marketing campaign thinks it may well nonetheless pull forward.
“Whether or not they really can is in fact very up within the air, as a result of mail-in votes will account for a lot of what’s excellent, and McGuire has carried the mail-ins which have already been counted,” he mentioned.
Whereas McGuire could find yourself being proper, one may definitely argue that his declaration of victory on Election Day was untimely, Coleman added.
“The cynical take would most likely be that he did that deliberately, so as to lay the groundwork for any ‘fraud’ claims that will come up if the result’s reversed, and people claims are one thing that the MAGA trustworthy eat up, even when their man comes out on prime. And it’s unlucky, contemplating election employees have had such a difficult stretch within the Trump period,” Coleman mentioned, referring to Buckingham County, the place elections director Lindsey Taylor and her workers stop final yr after years of unfounded accusations of wrongdoing and treason by county residents stemming from the 2020 presidential election.
Good, who’s in search of a 3rd time period in Congress, antagonized Trump final yr by initially endorsing his presidential major opponent, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Trump then attacked Good, whom he had as soon as endorsed, too, by backing McGuire’s major problem.
“If he’s reelected, Bob Good will stab Virginia within the again, kind of like he did with me,” Trump mentioned at a tele-rally for McGuire on Monday.