Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.) will ask GOP delegates to help his bid for a second time period at a nominating conference in Virginia’s fifth Congressional District Saturday, whereas 11 Republicans are vying for the nomination in Virginia’s tenth District in a firehouse main the identical day.
Virginia
GOP picking nominees in three Va. districts; Good seeks nod for 2nd term
Within the fifth, Good faces a problem from 27-year Air Power veteran Dan Moy, the chairman of the Charlottesville GOP Committee, who has accused Good of grandstanding and never supporting the army.
Incumbents sometimes have the benefit in nominating contests — however Good, a agency social conservative and member of the Home Freedom Caucus, has seen a Republican incumbent go down earlier than. In 2020, Good ousted then-Rep. Denver Riggleman (R) in a heated nominating conference with assist from the district’s religious-right faction, which broke with Riggleman after he officiated a same-sex wedding ceremony.
This time round there isn’t a lot proof of a giant grass-roots revolt in opposition to Good, and in GOP conventions, these right-wing grass-roots activists make up a big portion of members. However there may be proof of discontent amongst some Republicans about a few of Good’s actions, creating a gap for Moy’s problem.
Moy, who served in Afghanistan and labored on the Pentagon, has gone after Good for voting in opposition to the must-pass protection price range, the Nationwide Protection Authorization Act, an argument that has gained forex amongst some voters in army households. He has additionally described Good as “lacking in motion” on serving to the native economic system, and has pledged to revitalize Southside Virginia’s manufacturing jobs and prioritize funding for vocational coaching alternatives.
However Good, who opposes abortion with out exception and is an ardent gun rights supporter, is widespread amongst non secular conservatives within the Bible Belt district, and lots of others who’ve cheered his work within the ultraconservative Freedom Caucus. He has usually voted within the minority with Freedom Caucus members — resembling Reps. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) and Paul A. Gosar (R-Ariz.) — on bipartisan laws, for instance opposing the extra army and humanitarian help package deal for Ukraine final week.
Whereas Moy says he would have voted to certify the presidential election outcomes on Jan. 6, Good objected to them and has perpetuated former president Donald Trump’s false claims of election fraud. However these actions are unlikely to upset many GOP voters right here: Conference delegates will contemplate a decision Saturday asking the Virginia Basic Meeting to launch a “full forensic audit” of the 2020 presidential election outcomes.
Will Tempo, chairman of the fifth Congressional District GOP Committee, stated a person delegate submitted the decision for consideration. Tempo stated that whereas greater than 2,000 folks signed as much as be delegates, he anticipates not all will present as much as vote within the conference. They may converge at Hampden-Sydney Faculty close to Farmville at 10 a.m. Saturday, and Tempo stated he expects a outcome within the race by early afternoon.
The winner will face Democratic nominee Josh Throneburg, a pastor and small-business proprietor from Charlottesville. The district stays reliably crimson after redistricting; Trump gained it by eight proportion factors in 2020.
Within the tenth district, 11 Republicans are battling for the possibility to tackle Rep. Jennifer Wexton (D-Va.) in November.
The district has been trending blue for years — Wexton flipped it with a double-digit margin in 2018 and Joe Biden gained it by 18 factors in 2020. However after Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) made inroads within the district final yr — dropping the tenth beneath 5 proportion factors — Republicans have seen that progress as an indication that victory might be inside attain beneath the best situations this yr. Redistricting stored the district blue, however narrowed Youngkin’s margin to dropping beneath two proportion factors, in line with the Virginia Public Entry Venture.
The Loudoun County-anchored district — residence to among the state’s most raucous school-board conferences — was fertile floor for Youngkin’s crusades in opposition to essential race idea, pandemic-related faculty closures and his pledges for “parental rights” in schooling. And most of the Republican candidates within the tenth District race have been pulling from the Youngkin playbook on these points, opposing racial fairness initiatives and promising to battle alleged “indoctrination.”
High contenders embrace Prince William County Board Supervisor Jeanine Lawson; 25-year Navy veteran Hung Cao; Brandon Michon, a industrial actual property financier recognized for talking at Loudoun County Faculty Board conferences; Caleb Max, the 24-year-old grandson of the district’s former congressman, Frank Wolf; and Mike Clancy, a lawyer and Oracle enterprise govt.
Republicans can vote from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at choose places throughout the district within the party-run firehouse main, which is utilizing ranked-choice voting. Which means voters can rank the 11 candidates moderately than deciding on just one. If a candidate wins a majority of the top-choice votes, that candidate wins the nomination. If not, the least-popular candidate is eradicated, and that candidate’s supporters’ second-choice picks are added to the tally. The counting course of continues till a candidate will get greater than 50 p.c of the vote.
Geary Higgins, chairman of the tenth Congressional District GOP Committee, stated he doesn’t count on counting to be completed till Sunday.
Different candidates embrace Loudoun County Faculty Board member John Beatty; Air Power veterans John Henley and Dave Beckwith; and small-business proprietor Jeff Mayhugh.