Bob Good rallies pastors and fellow Trump supporters with what he calls “biblical conservatism.”
Editor’s note: This profile is the first in a CT series featuring evangelical candidates from both parties who are running for Congress in November.
Bob Good has the kind of name begging to be on a political sign. He’s “Good for Congress,” after all (and even “better for us” according to his slogan).
Good, who calls himself a “biblical constitutional conservative,” is the Republican nominee for Virginia’s 5th Congressional District this November. The district went big for President Donald Trump in 2016. Most analysts project Good, a first-time Congressional candidate and endorsed by Trump, will defeat Democrat candidate Cameron Webb.
Neither Good nor Webb are VA 5’s incumbent, however. Before last summer, first-term Republican Representative Denver Riggleman was expected to keep his seat. But in July 2019, Riggleman officiated the same-sex wedding of two of his former campaign volunteers. When word got out, the local county Republican Committee passed a unanimous vote of “no confidence” in Riggleman. Two months later, Good launched his own campaign.
“I challenged a sitting Republican incumbent to give conservative Republicans in our district a choice … between a more moderate Republican, who was brand new, in his first term, versus a true conservative,” Good said.
Trump originally backed Riggleman (in fact, Trump gave his “Total Endorsement” on Twitter). Throughout the primary battle, Riggleman and Good sparred publicly over which was the most enthusiastic Trump supporter. Ultimately, in a pandemic-era drive-by district convention last June, Good beat Riggleman with nearly 60 percent of the vote.
VA’s District 5 is the …