CBS News
Bob Good primary race still too close too call. Good signals he’ll push for recount
As votes continue to be counted in Virginia’s 5th District GOP congressional primary race, blows and barbs are still being traded between Republican candidates John McGuire and Rep. Bob Good, who is running for reelection.
Good, the incumbent, was first elected in 2020, and hoped to stave off the challenge from McGuire, a NAVY Seal who has the backing of former President Donald Trump, but results from the Virginia Department of Elections show Good trailing McGuire by 330 votes.
Speaking to Steve Bannon on his War Room podcast Thursday, Good cast doubt on the canvassing process, saying that his team was not informed about a counting process in one county that started two hours early.
The congressman also promised a “full recount” and investigation process and said he had a large team of lawyers.
“We’re going to we’re going to pursue every suspicion of malfeasance, we’re investigating that and we’re going to have some extra time to do it during the recount process,” he said.
According to the Virginia Department of Elections, the canvassing process will continue until Tuesday, June 25 and the State Board of Elections will certify those results on July 2.
Candidates will then have until July 12 to submit a recount petition.
Even though the race remains too close to call, McGuire took a victory lap on X, formerly known as Twitter just hours after polls closed on Tuesday.
“Thank you to my family, thank you to everyone who helped out on this campaign, thank you to the people who endorsed and supported me, and thank you to Donald J. Trump for believing in me. There are still a few votes left to count, but it’s clear that all paths end with a victory,” he posted.
The race between Good and McGuire has turned out to one of the most contentious primaries so far in the 2024 cycle. The testing of incumbents in primaries is a regular occurrence, but before the Virginia results, no current member of Congress had lost a primary this year, aside from instances where new district lines were being used.
The GOP race for the reliably red Fifth Congressional District in Virginia has proven to be a deep internal struggle for Republicans giving the external forces at play.
“Bob Good has done more to undermine and divide Republicans than any Democrat,” Nebraska GOP congressman Don Bacon posted on social media late Tuesday night.
Good had endorsed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in the presidential race — before returning to former president Trump’s side. And last year, Good was among the eight House Republicans who joined with Democrats to oust Kevin McCarthy as speaker.
While there were other Republicans running for reelection who had done at least one of those two things, Good had done both, managing to anger colleagues in Washington and alienate Trump at the same time, which made his chances for winning another term all the more daunting. That challenge was underscored further when Trump endorsed McGuire in the primary and took the step of holding a tele rally for Good’s challenger on the eve of the contest.
The stakes for Good are also stark given his current role as the chairman of the House Freedom Caucus. That far-right branch of House Republicans has been a problem at times for the GOP since the party won back a narrow majority in the 2022 midterms. A loss by Good could complicate the group’s influence in Washington moving forward.
“This fight, as you know, is much bigger than me and my opponent, it’s much bigger than Virginia the Fifth District,” Good said on leading Trump ally Steve Bannon’s show on Thursday. “This is not only the template, as you said, for the election on November 5… but it’s the swamp versus the Freedom Caucus, it’s are we going to allow this seat to be bought by the McCarthy revenge tour?”
BALTIMORE — One person was killed and nine others injured in a shooting and fiery crash in the Baltimore suburb of Towson Tuesday night, authorities said.
Law enforcement responded at around 7:15 p.m. in the 8500 block of Loch Raven Boulevard, Baltimore County Police Chief Robert McCullough said in a news briefing.
“It appears to be a mass shooting incident,” McCullough told reporters. “We have multiple persons who were shot. Right now, we are determining the circumstances and the conditions in this case.”
The first arriving officer found a vehicle on its side in flames near a funeral home, McCullough said, and then several gunshot victims were found in the area.
“There appears to be some type of incident that led to the vehicle crashing and catching on fire,” McCollough said. “Investigators are looking into the circumstances leading up to that.”
The name of the person killed and the manner of death was not released, nor were the conditions of the nine people injured. McCollough did not specify how many of the nine people injured were gunshot victims.
At this time, investigators believe this was an isolated and targeted incident, with no further threat to the community, he added. It’s unclear if any suspects have been arrested. There was no word on a possible motive.
“We will leave no stone unturned and we will dedicate every resource to this,” McCullough said. “We don’t generally see incidents like this in our community in Baltimore County. I assure you as your police chief that we will put all resources toward trying to clear this case.”
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives was at the scene assisting police, as was the Baltimore County Fire Department.
“This is an incident that is shocking, particularly for those of us in Baltimore County,” said Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski. “These types of incidents are unheard of here, so it really shocks the conscience. However, we want our residents to know that we are, as always, fully committed to ensuring that both our fire and police departments have the full support and all the resources they need from the Baltimore County government to ensure that they bring this investigation to a conclusion.”
Anyone with information is asked to call Baltimore County Police at 410-887-4636.
President-elect Donald Trump announced he will nominate Herschel Walker, the former football player whose 2022 Senate run was plagued by controversy, to serve as U.S. ambassador to the Bahamas.
“Herschel has spent decades serving as an Ambassador to our Nation’s youth, our men and women in the Military, and athletes at home and abroad,” Trump said on social media Tuesday night.
Walker would need to be confirmed by the Senate to assume the role. The Senate has not confirmed a U.S. ambassador to the Bahamas in over a decade. Former President Barack Obama had nominated Cassandra Butts for the role in 2014, but the Senate never even brought her nomination up for a vote, according to The Associated Press. She died in 2016.
Trump in his first term nominated Doug Manchester in 2017 for the ambassador role, but his nomination stalled for over two years. CBS News in 2019 also uncovered evidence of a possible pay-to-play scheme for the role. He eventually withdrew and Trump went on to nominate William Douglass in 2020. Douglass’ nomination was withdrawn by President Biden when he took office, and Mr. Biden in turn nominated Calvin Smyre, who has not been confirmed by the Senate.
Absent an official ambassador to the Bahamas, Kimberly Furnish currently serves in the role of Chargé d’Affaires.
Walker rose to national prominence as a star running back for the Georgia Bulldogs, winning the Heisman trophy in 1982. He spent his first few years of professional ball in the United States Football League before it folded, and then moved on to the NFL.
Walker reentered the national spotlight when, at Trump’s urging, he challenged Georgia’s Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock for his seat in 2022. The race featured several controversies, including two women claiming that Walker — who was running as an anti-abortion candidate — had paid for them to get abortions.
Walker denied both allegations.
In one instance, Walker admitted to writing a check for a woman who said he paid for her to get an abortion in 2009, but he said he hadn’t known what the money was for.
Another woman claimed Walker paid her to get an abortion while the two carried out a six-year relationship while he was married to another woman and playing in the NFL. During a news conference back in 2022, she said she couldn’t go through with the procedure when she went to get it herself, so Walker took her to a clinic in the Dallas area the next day and waited for her while she got the abortion.
“This was a lie a week ago and it is a lie today,” Walker said at the time following an interview the woman gave a week after the initial news conference.
Warnock would go on to win the election in a runoff after neither candidate received more than 50% of the vote on election day.
Aaron Navarro and
contributed to this report.
BALTIMORE — One person was killed and nine others injured in a mass shooting in the Baltimore suburb of Towson Tuesday night, authorities said.
Law enforcement responded at around 7:15 p.m. in the 8500 block of Loch Raven Boulevard, Baltimore County Police Chief Robert McCullough said in a news briefing.
“It appears to be a mass shooting incident,” Baltimore County Police Chief Robert McCullough told reporters. “We have multiple persons who were shot. Right now, we are determining the circumstances and the conditions in this case.”
The first arriving officer found a vehicle on its side in flames, McCullough said, and then several gunshot victims were found in the area. The name of the person killed was not released, and the conditions of the nine people injured was unknown.
At this time, investigators believe this was an isolated and targeted incident, with no further threat to community at this point, he added. It’s unclear if any suspects have been arrested.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is at the scene assisting police, as was the Baltimore County Fire Department.
Anyone with information is asked to call Baltimore County Police at 410-887-4636.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
