Bob Good’s only lament about his short stint in Congress is that he had to share it with “moderate establishment RINOs.”
“I regret that such a strong percentage of the Republican conference doesn’t really want to do Republican things,” he said.
One thing he doesn’t regret is voting to oust Kevin McCarthy from the speakership last October, joining Democrats and seven of his GOP colleagues. The former Freedom Caucus chair calls it a “healthy” effort to hold leadership accountable, even as he suggests it cost him reelection. Good lost to primary challenger John McGuire by just 370 votes.
Good spoke on the phone to Roll Call while driving (“It’s hands free, you’re on the speaker,” he said) back to his Virginia district after one of his final vote series on the Hill. The 59-year-old isn’t sure what’s next, and did not rule out another run for office. “My wife and I are just praying and seeking the Lord’s wisdom and direction for what’s next for us,” he said.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
Q: What are you proud of from your time here?
A: I ran as a self-identified biblical and constitutional conservative, and I let the folks in Virginia’s 5th District know what my guiding principles were. I didn’t promise to bring home money to the district or pork spending projects. I told them I would fight to secure our border, reduce government, cut our spending and protect our constitutional freedoms, and those are the areas I’ve focused on.
I’m also proud of the accountability, I would say, that we’ve brought to the leadership of Congress with the different speaker fights we were involved with.
Q: A lot of others in your party say that was a low point, not a high point.
A: Well, let’s reflect on that for a moment. When the system is working for you and your desire is to stay in Congress, then you don’t like the threat of change. You don’t like that disruption, because it’s working for you, irrespective of whether or not it’s working for the American people.
The system is designed to protect the status quo. They don’t really want you to think and have ideas, so you just do what you’re told. But we diminished the top-down rule that Nancy Pelosi had in place that, admittedly, many Republican speakers would like to have, too.
One of the criticisms of the speaker fights, whether it was the 15 rounds with Speaker McCarthy or the 21 days between him and Speaker Johnson, was that this is one of the least productive congresses. But what is it you wish we did more of that Chuck Schumer and Joe Biden would agree to? I never get an answer to that, other than just work together and compromise, which means do what the Democrats want. And so I think this Congress should have done even less.
Q: What are your biggest regrets?
A: This is probably not the answer you’re looking for, but I regret that such a strong percentage of the Republican conference doesn’t really want to do Republican things.
I would split the Republican majority into thirds. You’ve got one-third that doesn’t want to reduce government. They refuse to join us in spending cuts and eliminating offices and agencies. Then you’ve got another third in the middle that would like to do Republican stuff, but not if it threatens the donations they’re looking for, or not if it risks their reelection, which is the end all, be all. And then there’s really only about a third, 70 or 75 members, who will demonstrate conviction and courage to some degree.
Q: Do you regret endorsing Ron DeSantis over Trump in the presidential primary?
A: When I [made that endorsement] in May of ’23, I said I was for Gov. DeSantis, not against President Trump. I said he was the best president of my lifetime and I would support him in ’24 enthusiastically if he was the nominee. That said, I realized there was risk politically for me. But for four years, I did not do what was best for me politically, I did what I thought was right.
Q: When you talk about the Republicans who are willing to do Republican things, I assume you mean the Freedom Caucus. So how do you win over the others?
A: We’ve had two speakers over the past two years who are more willing to do bad things than they are to do nothing. Speaker Johnson is willing to pass every major piece of legislation with predominantly Democrat votes, and I think that’s an abysmal failure.
But the Freedom Caucus has made legislation that the Republican House has pursued more conservative. It has an outsized amount of influence for the size of the caucus, and we’re pulling the conference to the right, no question. It puts pressure on members back home. The Freedom Caucus is that contrast that holds them accountable, and helps them to vote more conservatively to avoid a primary challenge.
Q: You unseated a GOP incumbent in 2020, and then you yourself were ousted by a primary challenger. Did that feel like karma?
A: That was very different. Denver Riggleman was primaried because he was not acting like a Republican. He had a very liberal voting record, and his constituents were not happy with him. But in 2024 I was massively outspent by the challenger because of Kevin McCarthy. This was a personal vendetta, funded with nearly $10 million through the super PACs allied with Kevin McCarthy.
Q: If you had a magic wand, what would you change about the House?
A: I hate to use this term, but we need to little-D democratize the House and the Republican Conference.
We ought to allow committee members to vote and choose their chairman. Currently, leadership chooses the chairman based on how much money you raise for the party, whether you do what the party tells you to do, and whether you’d be a moderate establishment RINO, [Republican in name only]. I think we ought to allow committee members to vote and choose who’s the best and the brightest.
Committee chairs shouldn’t get waivers to stay on beyond what at this point [for Republicans] is a six-year rule, and you shouldn’t be able to bounce directly from being chair of one committee to chair of another. Everything should be more open, more transparent and more member-driven, so you’re not just rewarding those who play the system.
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