Rep. Bob Good (R) declared that he will pursue a recount and a “full investigation” in his Virginia House election in Thursday comments.
Good, the chair of the House Freedom Caucus, is facing a close election against his primary challenger, state Sen. John McGuire.
McGuire declared victory Tuesday night, though the race had not been called. Virginia observes Juneteenth, and the remaining ballots were not counted Wednesday, The Associated Press reported.
Good joined Steve Bannon for his “War Room” podcast Thursday, where he said he will pursue a recount in the election.
“We’re going to have a full recount. We’re going to have a full investigation,” Good said. “It’s going to stretch out for a couple of weeks. We’ve got lawyers at the ready, thankfully, a tremendous number of lawyers at our disposal, many who are ready to help us.”
McGuire, who mounted a strong challenge to Good’s attempt for a third term, was leading with 50.2 percent support to Good's 49.8 percent, according to Decision Desk HQ, as of Thursday night.
McGuire has been backed by both former President Trump and former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.).
There are no automatic recounts in Virginia, but candidates can request one when there’s a difference of no more than 1 percentage point in the race. Good said the race is "certainly" within the margin for the state to pay for a recall, but he is in the process of canvassing.
Good alleged that in one of the counties, Albemarle County, McGuire's representative was notified "two hours" early and officials were counting ballots "two hours before they were supposed to." Good said his representatives were going to be on site but were never notified that votes were being counted early. He said he is "forcing" for that process to "start over."
"Of course, we don't know what took place during those two hours," he said.
The Hill has reached out to Albemarle County officials.
Bannon asked Good "who on Earth" would start counting ballots early without having a representative there, especially given the voter security issues Republicans have raised in recent years.
Good dodged the question and said Bannon was "absolutely right that everyone should want to make sure that every legal, legitimate vote is counted." He said his team is working to go through that process "county by county."
Good never earned the support from Trump in the race and is fighting for his spot in Congress after the former president backed his opponent. Good initially supported Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in the Republican presidential primary but later endorsed Trump after DeSantis dropped out.
If Good loses his seat, he would be the first House incumbent to lose to an outside challenger in this election cycle.
