The race for Congress in Virginia’s Fifth District gives voters a real choice between two very different candidates.
The story of Bob Good’s run for Congress may have begun at a gay wedding where the current congressman, libertarian-minded Republican Denver Riggleman, officiated. That did not sit well with Good, a graduate of Liberty University and a former employee. In the midst of a pandemic, Republicans held a drive-thru convention at which conservatives chose Good to replace Riggleman.
Now, Good is campaigning as a strong ally to Donald Trump. “I’ll work to safely reopen our country, get folks back to work, safely get our kids back to school," he pledges. " I’ll work to renew and expand the Trump economy, the pro-job policies that gave us the greatest economy we’ve had in our lifetime.”
We had hoped to interview Bob Good for this story, but his campaign did not respond to repeated requests, so we’re sharing remarks he made during a public forum. At that event he ignored facts in attacking his opponent, Democrat Cameron Webb.
“Bernie Sanders has endorsed my opponent for a reason -- the Democrat policies, the Green New Deal," he claimed. "We know if Biden wins, my opponents wins, they’re going to vote in lockstep together to enact radical, drastic changes to our energy - climate policy.”
It turns out Webb has not been endorsed by Bernie Sanders, and he does not support Medicare for All – a signature issue in Sanders’ unsuccessful run for president. Nor does he back the Green New Deal, although he sees solar and wind power as important generators of jobs.
Good, on the other hand, fiercely defends fossil fuels.
“We were paying four dollars a gallon back under the Obama/Biden Administration. Now we’re paying $2 a gallon. That has a direct impact on our families and our individual budgets. We need to continue that. I reject my opponent’s Green New Deal. That would my eliminate 10 million jobs and cost trillions of dollars, radically increasing gas, oil, utility prices and drastically changing our lives.”
Like President Trump, he’s made “law and order” a rallying cry in his campaign.
“I stand strong against the violence, the rioting, the lawlessness we’re seeing in our cities, and I’m committed to not letting it come here to the Fifth District. We’ve been doing a lot of Back to Blue events. We’re going to continue more of those because I stand strong with law enforcement.”
He contends Webb would “defund the police,” a charge Webb denies, and as a member of the Campbell County Board of Supervisors, Good voted against a pay raise for law enforcement, prompting the local sheriff to endorse Webb.
Good is on Donald Trump’s side of the wall, contending this country cannot afford to help immigrants.
“We’ve got to finish the southern border wall. We’ve already built nearly 500 miles expected to be completed by the time the election gets here. We want to enforce our laws, end sanctuary cities, fund our border patrol, not provide free social services such as healthcare and education to illegal residents at a time when we cannot afford that as a country. My opponent and his party have said that they will tear down the wall. They’ll open the borders, defund border patrol, give citizenship and amnesty for 11 million immigrants who are already here. “
And he’s ready to be rid of the Affordable Care Act.
“I reject that and want to stay with market-driven solutions, improvements that are patient-centric, that will drive down costs and improve choice and quality for all Americans.”
The candidate describes himself as a biblical conservative and had attacked a new state law prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. That, he says, is an assault on religious liberty.
Good has submitted a personal finance form as required by federal law. Candidates are supposed to disclose assets like bank accounts, retirement money and insurance policies, but Good claimed he had none. Neither the campaign nor the Justice Department responded to our request for details.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
