The GOP just wasted $10 million ousting a safe Republican incumbent

Liberal and moderate Republicans joined forces with former President Donald Trump to oust House Freedom Caucus Chairman Bob Good in last week’s Virginia primary, with the long slog appearing to end Monday with Good still 373 votes behind his challenger, John McGuire.

His scalp didn’t come cheap. A conservative stalwart who won his last election by 15 points, Good had the backing of House and Senate conservatives as well as grassroots activists.

‘This was a targeted assassination.’

Republican groups spent $5.9 million to oust the safe incumbent in the lead-up to a 2024 election in which congressional Democrats have outraised Republicans by 25% — and hold a 20% cash-on-hand advantage.

Main Street PAC, the political arm of the liberal Republican Main Street Caucus, spent $451,990 on the race — or just over 20% of all the money the PAC has raised for 2024 so far.

American Patriots, a super PAC funded by pro-Nikki Haley megadonors Paul Singer and Ken Griffin, spent more than anyone in the race, sending $3.4 million against Good and for his opponent, John McGuire.

Major Republican and Trump donor Marjorie Buckley set up Virginians for Freedom PAC to weigh in from out of state, putting another $762,000 toward knocking Good out of Congress.

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, meanwhile, remained on the sidelines — a contrast with his support for other embattled incumbents, including liberals like Rep. Tony Gonzales (Texas), conservatives like Rep. William Timmons (S.C.), and scattershot members like Rep. Nancy Mace (S.C.).

Ron DeSantis also stayed out of the race, even though Trump’s ire at Good was largely due to Good’s endorsement of the Florida governor’s presidential bid.

Good wasn’t lacking in Republican allies so much as he was rich in Republican enemies. Conservatives in the House, Senate, and grassroots mustered more than $4.8 million in his defense, keeping the race close despite Trump’s vocal support for McGuire.

The reality is that Good’s opponents were determined to make an example of the rabble-rouser. In an environment where voters’ weariness of infighting has created a surprisingly safe year for incumbents, he was both a more prominent and a weaker target than other Republicans who had gone against then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy (Calif.), or who sided with DeSantis, or who went against liberal Republicans in their own primaries, or who opposed further spending on the foreign wars in Israel and Ukraine.

“You’ve got to fight fire with fire,” Main Street Caucus member Rep. Don Bacon (Neb.) told reporters after endorsing McGuire. Good had endorsed Bacon’s opponent in his own primary.

“This was a targeted assassination,” one GOP staffer told Blaze News.

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IN OTHER NEWS

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Squad Democrats tempted to toast Good’s downfall might be mindful for whom the bell tolls: In New York’s 16th Congressional District, it tolls for thee.

Left-wing Democrat Rep. Jamaal Bowman lost a heated primary Tuesday night to Westchester County Executive George Latimer. Latimer was backed by millions from the powerful American Israel PAC, as well as by former presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, former New York Democrat Govs. David Paterson and Andrew Cuomo, and former Rep. Eliot Engel (D), whom Bowman defeated in 2020.

The Squad first hit the stage in 2018, backed by a surge of Trump derangement. In the years since, they’ve spent Democrats’ political capital freely on radical experiments like “defund the police” and “abolish ICE,” successfully pressuring the broader party into compliance or at least lip service. These utopian schemes grew unpopular with the voters when the results became clear, however, leaving Democrats holding the bag and Squad members increasingly unpopular with their colleagues. By the time Bowman sided with Hamas after the Oct. 7 attack, even his liberal constituents had had enough.

Bowman tried to beat back accusations that he was more interested in the cause and the fame than the district by, ironically, holding a cringeworthy, R-rated rally outside his district with Squad leader Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).

“We’re going to show f***ing AIPAC the power of the motherf***ing South Bronx," Bowman told the crowd. Trump, for his part, drew nearly 10 times the roughly 1,200 attendees the Squad drew. Also, Bowman does not represent the South Bronx — his district begins nearly 10 miles to the north of where the rally was held.

With $25 million spent for and against Bowman, it’s become the most expensive primary in House of Representatives history. No matter. You can start your watches (and start taking bets) for how long it takes New York 16’s outgoing congressman to call his constituents racist.

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