Good faced a primary challenge from state senator John McGuire, who was endorsed by Donald Trump.[3] McGuire's victory was certified on July 2, by a margin of 370 votes.[4] Good requested a recount, which he subsequently lost.[4][5][6] Good resigned as chair of the Freedom Caucus on September 17, 2024.
For 17 years, Good worked for Citi Financial.[11] When he announced his campaign for Congress in 2019, he was serving as an associate athletic director for development at Liberty University.[12]
Good campaigned on a conservative platform, espousing hard-line views on immigration policy and opposition to same-sex marriage[18] and aligning himself with President Donald Trump.[11] He called for the repeal of the Affordable Care Act[11] and opposed mask mandates during the COVID-19 pandemic.[18] He did not wear a face covering or encourage the wearing of face coverings at campaign events, and opposed restrictions on businesses to slow the spread of the virus.[18] Good suggested that the wearing of face coverings might be harmful.[18] In the November 3 general election, Good defeated Democratic nominee Cameron Webb, a physician, 52.6% (210,988) to 47.4% (190,315).[11]
Good had initially backed Ron DeSantis, who was a founder of the Freedom Caucus, against Trump in the 2024 Republican Party presidential primaries. He considered DeSantis more of a "true conservative" than Trump on issues like abortion and gun control.[4] Because of this, Trump would endorse Good's primary opponent, John McGuire on May 28, 2024.[19] Good later switched his endorsement to Trump after DeSantis backed out of the primary.[19] Good continued to use campaign signage featuring Trump's name and image, resulting in Trump sending a cease-and-desist letter to Good.[20] McGuire was also backed by former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who Good voted to remove from the speakership.[21] Representative Warren Davidson, a fellow member of the Freedom Caucus, took an unprecedented step in backing McGuire against Good, who chaired the Caucus.[22]
Good lost the primary election to McGuire in June 2024. Good did not concede and promised a recount of the votes. He lost by slightly over 0.5% of the vote, which would require his campaign to foot the costs of a recount.[23] Good cast doubt on the legitimacy of the election, inaccurately claiming that fires broke out at polling places and alleging a lack of security for election drop boxes in Lynchburg, where Good sought to block certification of election results. Other Republican members of Congress have ridiculed Good's complaints, while McGuire has called on him to accept the results of the election.[24][25][26] A recount completed on August 1 confirmed that Good lost to McGuire by 370 votes, after which Good conceded the election.[3][4][27]
Good insinuated that his primary election loss was marred by fraud, drawing ridicule from fellow Republican members of Congress.[25][24] Good sought to block the certification of election results in Lynchburg, the biggest city in the district.[26]
Tenure
After his election, Good appeared amid the pandemic at a rally in Washington, D.C., in which Trump supporters protested the Supreme Court's rejection of a lawsuit attempting to subvert the results of the election, which Trump lost to Joe Biden.[18] During the rally, Good promoted the theory that Democrats had perpetrated a vast conspiracy to steal the election. He said that while the virus was real, the pandemic was "phony".[18] Good told a maskless crowd that "this is a phony pandemic" and, the next day, suggested that precautions to prevent the spread of the disease were a "hoax".[18]
On June 17, 2021, Good was one of 49 House Republicans to vote to repeal the AUMF against Iraq.[31][32]
On June 26, 2021, Good appeared at Bedford County, Virginia's, second annual militia muster, saying he was happy to be at the event with "proud patriots and constitutional conservatives who are doing their part to help strengthen our nation and to fight for the things that we believe in".[33]
In July 2021, Good voted against the bipartisan ALLIES Act, which would have increased the number of special immigrant visas for Afghan allies of the U.S. military by 8,000 during its invasion of Afghanistan while also reducing some application requirements that caused long application backlogs. The bill passed the House 407–16.[34]
In September 2021, Good was among 75 House Republicans to vote against the National Defense Authorization Act of 2022, which contains a provision that would require women to register for selective service.[35][36]
On October 26, 2021, while the House discussed anti-domestic violence legislation, Good said: "Nearly everything that plagues our society can be attributed to a failure to follow God's laws for morality and his rules for and definition of marriage and family."[37]
In October 2021, Good encouraged a group of high school students from Rappahannock County, Virginia, to defy a local school mask mandate, saying, "If nobody in Rappahannock complies, they can't stop everyone".[38]
In November 2021, Good wrote Virginia Governor-elect Glenn Youngkin a letter asking Youngkin to halt a federal mask mandate once he took office.[39]
In December 2021, Good was among 19 House Republicans to vote against the final passage of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2022.[40]
On January 11, 2022, Good urged fellow Republicans to boycott the Capitol Hill Club, a popular dining spot for Republican officials, after it mandated that all guests must show proof of COVID-19 vaccination.[41]
On March 1, 2022, Good said he would not attend President Joe Biden's State of the Union address: "President Biden subjected the country to life-altering mandates for over a year. I will not submit to an unnecessary COVID test to attend a State of the Union only to hear this president whisper through a speech that will inevitably fail to take responsibility for the tremendous damage he has and continues to cause to our country."[42]
In September 2022, Good was one of 39 Republicans to vote for the Merger Filing Fee Modernization Act of 2022, an antitrust package that would crack down on corporations for anti-competitive behavior.[43][44]
In 2023, Good was among 47 Republicans to vote in favor of H.Con.Res. 21 which directed President Joe Biden to remove U.S. troops from Syria within 180 days.[53][54]
Immigration
Good sponsored H.R. 6202, the American Tech Workforce Act of 2021, introduced by Representative Jim Banks. The legislation would establish a wage floor for the high-skill H-1B visa program, thereby significantly reducing employer dependence on the program. The bill would also eliminate the Optional Practical Training program that allows foreign graduates to stay and work in the United States.[55]
James Daniel Jordan is an American politician currently serving in his ninth term in the U.S. House of Representatives as the representative for Ohio's 4th congressional district since 2007. He is a member of the Republican Party.
Kevin Owen McCarthy is an American politician who served as the 55th speaker of the United States House of Representatives from January to October 2023. A member of the Republican Party, he was the U.S. representative for California's 20th congressional district from 2007 until his resignation in 2023.
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James Richardson Comer Jr. is an American politician from Kentucky who represents the state's 1st congressional district in the United States House of Representatives. A member of the Republican Party, he has served in Congress since 2016, during the 114th United States Congress. He previously served in the Kentucky House of Representatives and also served as the Agriculture Commissioner of Kentucky.
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The Freedom Caucus, also known as the House Freedom Caucus, is a congressional caucus consisting of Republican members of the United States House of Representatives. It is generally considered to be the most conservative and furthest-right bloc within the chamber. The caucus was formed in January 2015 by a group of conservatives and Tea Party movement members, with the aim of pushing the Republican leadership to the right. Its first chairman, Jim Jordan, described the caucus as a "smaller, more cohesive, more agile and more active" group of conservative representatives. Its current chairman, Andy Harris is considered to be a far-right politician due to his radical proposals. Members of the Freedom Caucus are typically considered a part of the MAGA movement and loyalists to Donald Trump.
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The 118th United States Congress is the current meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It convened in Washington, D.C., on January 3, 2023, and will end on January 3, 2025, during the final two years of Joe Biden's presidency.
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