Kevin McCarthy squeaked out a win in his campaign of revenge against the eight Republicans who voted to remove him as House speaker. But the California Republican is not getting much of the credit for Virginia Rep. Bob Good’s primary loss.
The Virginia Board of Elections on Tuesday certified state Sen. John McGuire as the winner of the 5th Congressional District primary. He defeated Mr. Good by 374 votes, a 0.6% margin that falls within the threshold for a candidate-financed recount, which Mr. Good has said he will pursue.
Mr. McCarthy, through his expansive donor network, funneled money toward anti-Good and pro-McGuire ads. But the tipping point in the close race, allies and critics of Mr. Good say, was former President Donald Trump’s decision to endorse and campaign for Mr. McGuire.
“I think that scalp would likely belong to Donald Trump, not Kevin McCarthy,” Florida GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz, who led the effort to remove Mr. McCarthy, told The Washington Times.
Rep. Ryan Zinke, one of the first lawmakers to campaign against Mr. Good and throw money behind Mr. McGuire through his SEAL PAC, agreed.
“I would say Trump was the torpedo,” the Montana Republican said.
Mr. McCarthy acknowledged the weight Mr. Trump’s endorsement carries when his proxy effort to oust South Carolina Republican Rep. Nancy Mace, one of the eight who voted to depose him, failed. Mr. McCarthy had financially backed Catherine Templeton, who lost to Ms. Mace by 27 points.
“The thing you learn is that the Trump endorsement is very strong,” Mr. McCarthy said on Fox News after Ms. Mace’s victory.
With Mr. Trump backing the effort to oust Mr. Good, Mr. McCarthy identified that as the key contest on his revenge tour.
“This is a place that I’ve really engaged in the race. President Trump has as well,” he said. “I think when you look at Bob Good and what he has not brought home for the district, that’s the real race everybody’s looking at.”
Mr. Good said Mr. McCarthy’s only engagement was funneling outside money “to deceive the voters of the 5th District” about his record. He encouraged the former speaker to come to the district and actually campaign for Mr. McGuire, but that didn’t happen.
“I don’t think anybody in my district cares one bit about what Kevin McCarthy thinks. And that’s why he didn’t come and campaign for my opponent. It would have actually helped,” Mr. Good said. “But $10 million spent against anyone has an impact.”
Mr. McGuire downplayed his relationship with Mr. McCarthy, telling NBC News he doesn’t know the former speaker well. They shook hands once at the Capitol Hill Club, and he had a few phone conversations with Mr. McCarthy about the race.
“Advice, like, ’Hey, am I doing the right thing?’” Mr. McGuire said in describing those conversations. “And he’s like, ’Keep charging.’ More of a pep talk kinda thing. But never any strategy or anything. I think I should have asked him that, but I didn’t.”
The fact that the race came down to a few hundred votes despite Mr. Trump’s endorsement of Mr. McGuire and Mr. McCarthy’s financial interference is a credit to Mr. Good, according to members of the House Freedom Caucus that Mr. Good chairs.
“It’s astounding that he was not just completely rolled under a tsunami. And he got 31,000 votes. In our area, that’s big,” said Rep. Morgan Griffith, a Virginia Republican whose district shares a border with Mr. Good’s.
Wisconsin Rep. Derrick Van Orden, one of the Republicans who backed Mr. McGuire, said he doesn’t know if Mr. McCarthy deserves credit for the victory but that they can all rejoice at the sound of “the door hitting Bob Good in the ass.”
“If you had someone on your team who was cutting the laces on your combat boots before you went on a mission, you’d get rid of him,” he said. “Bob didn’t come here to legislate. We did.”
Mr. McCarthy “was removed from his speakership by some people that have absolutely no understanding about how things function,” Mr. Van Orden said. “Bob Good is in that crew, and Bob Good is just the first one on my list.”
Mr. McCarthy and his allies have two more shots at revenge this cycle: a July 30 primary in Arizona’s 2nd District, where Mr. McCarthy is backing Army veteran Jack Smith against Rep. Eli Crane, and an Aug. 20 primary in Florida’s 1st District, where the former speaker is supporting Navy veteran Aaron Dimmock’s challenge to Mr. Gaetz.
Neither race has shown the potential to be as competitive as Mr. Good’s. And Mr. Gaetz and Mr. Crane are not worried about Mr. McCarthy’s interference.
“If Kevin McCarthy wants an ass whooping in Florida 1, we’ll be happy to give it to him,” Mr. Gaetz said.
Mr. Crane predicted his primary will show that the people who sent him to Washington are pleased with him for voting against establishment Republicans when necessary.
“And the moment that they’re not happy with me, they need to send me home, get somebody better,” he said.
Mr. Crane’s opponent has tried to distance himself from Mr. McCarthy.
“I am not backed by McCarthy. I have not taken any money from McCarthy,” Mr. Smith said during a May candidate forum. “However, I will, because I need to raise money to run through this race.”
Mr. Crane acknowledged Mr. McCarthy and his large donor network “for sure” played a role in making the Virginia 5th District race competitive. But when asked if Mr. McCarthy’s influence alone would have been enough to defeat Mr. Good, he said, “Hell no, not even close.”
“It’s just obvious. If you come up to Washington and try and make big changes, including leadership changes, there’s gonna be repercussions for that,” Mr. Crane said. “You just have to know it. You have to accept it. You have to be willing to deal with it. Good or bad.”
Mr. McCarthy’s attempt to use primary races to deliver those repercussions extended to only half of the eight Republicans who voted to remove him: Ms. Mace, Mr. Good, Mr. Crane and Mr. Gaetz.
The former speaker couldn’t field challengers against Reps. Tim Burchett of Tennessee and Andy Biggs of Arizona. And his other two GOP foes, Rep. Matt Rosendale of Montana and former Rep. Ken Buck of Colorado opted to retire. Mr. Buck, like Mr. McCarthy, made an early exit.
Mr. Burchett said that surrogates for Mr. McCarthy reached out to Republicans in his district trying to recruit someone to run against him. Although that effort was unsuccessful, the Tennessee Republican remains frustrated that Mr. McCarthy is wasting his financial resources on intraparty fights.
“People gave him that money to go after Democrats and he’s using it to go after Republicans,” Mr. Burchett said.
This cycle may not be the last in which Mr. McCarthy goes after those who wronged him.
“I realize that the swamp is going to continue to gun for me, and if they get me, they get me. I didn’t come here to stay here a long time, become a career politician or something I hate,” Mr. Crane said.
“I’m absolutely looking to stay the course and continue to try and make principled votes because the goal for me is to try and represent my voters well and try and change the way this town works,” he said. “I know it’s not changed the way this town works, but it’ll never change if people aren’t willing to make big moves and put themselves in political jeopardy.”
• Lindsey McPherson can be reached at lmcpherson@washingtontimes.com.
• Alex Miller can be reached at amiller@washingtontimes.com.
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