House Freedom Caucus Chairman Bob Good loses Virginia primary recount

House Freedom Caucus Chairman Bob Good, R-Va., has lost his primary recount, a Virginia court certified Thursday, cementing his narrow defeat to GOP state Sen. John McGuire.

The recount results confirmed McGuire beat Good after McGuire initially led Good by just 374 votes in the June primary in Virginia’s 5th District.

Good had said he would step down as chairman of the hard-right Freedom Caucus if he didn’t prevail in the recount.

The recount officially brings the race to an end, with Good becoming the first sitting House Republican to lose to a primary challenger this year. Good faced a broad coalition of GOP opposition, which included former President Donald Trump and former Speaker Kevin McCarthy of California.

Trump jumped into the race shortly before the June 18 primary by endorsing McGuire, who attended the “Stop the Steal” rally that preceded the Jan. 6, 2021, attack and walked to the U.S. Capitol grounds, saying, “We felt like we were being cheated.”

McGuire declined to commit to certifying the 2024 presidential election results in an interview with NBC News shortly before the primary, saying he would “need to see what happens.”

“I can understand why people lack trust in elections,” he added.

Good drew Trump’s ire by backing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in the presidential primaries, and his subsequent endorsement of Trump wasn’t enough to put him in Trump’s good graces.

Trump appeared in a TV ad and held a tele-rally for McGuire ahead of the primary, telling supporters: “John is running against Bob Good, who is not good. Despite his name, he’s very bad for Virginia.”

McGuire, a former Navy SEAL whose campaign slogan was “We can do better than Good,” previously told NBC News that Trump’s endorsement was