GOP Rep. Bob Goode, chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, is looking to fend off a primary challenger backed by powerful Republicans, including former President Donald Trump and former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, on Tuesday.
Goode’s primary in Virginia’s deep-red 5th District is among the most competitive races to be decided Tuesday, and he could become the first incumbent to lose to a primary challenger this year. Along with Virginia, Oklahoma also has preliminary runoffs on Tuesday and Georgia.
Goode’s opponent, state Sen. John McGuire, has the support of some of Goode’s House colleagues, as well as Trump and McCarthy.
Goode angered Trump by endorsing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for president, and he is on McCarthy’s radar as one of eight Republicans who voted to oust the former speaker late last year.
Millions of dollars in ads flooded the 5th District airwaves, targeting McCarthy allies Good. Meanwhile, the two-term incumbent has drawn support from outside groups linked to the Freedom Caucus, the Progressive Action Club and Kentucky GOP Sen. Rand Paul.
Oklahoma GOP Rep. Tom Cole is also on the defensive Tuesday, and his primary challenger, businessman Paul Bondar, is pouring millions of his own money into the race. Cole and his allies accused Bondar, who owned property in Oklahoma but was not in the district, of actually being a Texan. using fierce competition between the Texas Longhorns and the Oklahoma Sooners.
Elsewhere in Virginia on Tuesday, Republican voters chose Navy veteran Hung Cao to face Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine on NBC News drafts in November. Cao, a Trump favorite in the race, led the Republican field in fundraising and defeated two other GOP candidates.
Cao ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 2022, losing to Democratic Rep. Jennifer Wexton by nearly 7 points. He is in a tough race against Kaine, who is running for a third term in a state that has sent Democrats to the Senate in recent years. Biden won the state by 10 points in 2020, and Kaine by 17 points in 2018.
Democrats in the House of Representatives and Republican Rep. in the 2nd District. They are choosing a candidate to run against Jen Kiggans, and both parties are choosing their candidates in the open 7th and 10th Districts.
Georgia will also hold primary runoffs in March in races where no candidate wins a majority of the primary vote.
Activist Chuck Hand, who pleaded guilty to a felony in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, attack in the Democratic-leaning 2nd District, lost in a runoff for the Republican nomination. And Brian Jack, Trump’s former White House political director, is trying to win a GOP runoff in the ruby-red 3rd District.
Polls in Georgia and Virginia closed at 7:00 PM ET, and in Oklahoma they will close at 8:00 PM ET.
Will Courtney contributed.