Virginia’s Bob Good surges as foe’s Trump endorse­ment fades

Embat­tled Rep. Bob Good (R‑VA), chair­man of the House Free­dom Cau­cus, appears to be weath­er­ing crit­i­cism from for­mer Pres­i­dent Don­ald Trump and oust­ed House Speak­er Kevin McCarthy.
Trump’s endorse­ment last week of Vir­ginia com­mon­wealth Sen. John McGuire ini­tial­ly knocked Good down in polls. Good has since scram­bled back to lead 39%-30% in a new sur­vey from Neigh­bor­hood Research and Media for Cham­pi­ons of Free­dom PAC.
Repub­li­can poll­ster Rick Shaf­tan told Secrets that Trump’s endorse­ment on May 28 ini­tial­ly affect­ed the race and put McGuire, a for­mer Navy SEAL, near the lead. But the for­mer president’s con­vic­tion on 34 counts in a New York hush mon­ey tri­al “took the wind out of the sail.”
What’s more, con­ser­v­a­tives, espe­cial­ly right-lean­ing men in the dis­trict that stretch­es from Char­lottesville and the Rich­mond sub­urbs south to the North Car­oli­na bor­der, have ral­lied for Good, a hard-lin­er on sev­er­al issues, espe­cial­ly ille­gal immi­gra­tion.

In his memo shared with Secrets, Shaf­tan wrote, “After tak­ing a hit Thurs­day last we …