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Two Virginia Republicans receive important endorsements from former President Trump

FILE - With the White House in the background, President Donald Trump speaks at a rally in Washington, Jan. 6, 2021. A judge on Monday, Aug. 28, 2023, set a March 4, 2024, trial date for Donald Trump in the federal case in Washington charging the former president with trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election, rejecting a defense request to push back the case by years.
Jacquelyn Martin
/
AP
FILE - With the White House in the background, President Donald Trump speaks at a rally in Washington, Jan. 6, 2021.

Voting has already started for Virginia's June primaries. But former President Donald Trump is now weighing in with endorsements.

Former President Donald Trump lost Virginia in 2016 and in 2020, but Republicans across the state are clamoring for his endorsement. Now two candidates are receiving just that from the leading Republican candidate for president. One is Hung Cao, a Republican running in the U.S. Senate primary against four other candidates. Here's Wes Bellamy from Virginia State University.

"Specifically for Cao, as he's in a pretty contested race although he's outraised all of his competitors, it's still in the Republican world," says Wes Bellamy from Virginia State University. "I mean, I don't know how many people can ignore the fact that the Republican Party is the Trump party."

The other candidate Trump is endorsing is state Senator John McGuire, who is running against incumbent Congressman Bob Good in the 5th Congressional District. J. Miles Coleman at the University of Virginia says it looks like Good's visit to the hush money trial in Manhattan didn't work.

"Seems like that didn't really move the needle much in Trump's eyes," Coleman says. "But I guess it's not too surprising that Trump would back McGuire in a primary that could really go either way; this could perhaps be the nail in Bob Good's coffin."

If McGuire wins the primary, he'll have a good shot at being the next congressman from the 5th District because Republicans have such an advantage there. If Cao wins, he'll have a much more difficult race against incumbent U.S. Senator Tim Kaine.

This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.

Michael Pope is an author and journalist who lives in Old Town Alexandria.