Running Republican, juggling a pandemic
▶ Candidate Bob Good concedes risks of COVID-19 — sans mask ▶ ‘I believe that we need to take reasonable precautions’
At a Rappahannock fundraiser last weekend, Congressional candidate Bob Good conceded risks of COVID-19 — sans mask: “I believe that we need to take reasonable precautions.” Page
It could not have gone unnoticed by h district GOP candidate Bob Good when Rep. Louie Gohmert, Texas Republican, tested positive in late July for COVID-19.
The congressman, a er all, who earlier made headlines for refusing to wear a mask on Capitol Hill, is at the top of Good’s published list of prominent supporters — one line below Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who himself quarantined for 10 days a er interacting with people who tested positive for COVID-19.
The question now that no 2020 candidate for political o ce can overlook is can Bob Good continue his political stumping unimpeded between now and Election Day?
“I believe that we need to take reasonable precautions. It’s a serious virus and it presents risk,” Good told the Rappahannock News prior to stepping — sans mask — inside the Battle Run Farm home of Demaris and Jim Miller, where Ronald Reagan’s budget director and his politically active wife hosted a Friday evening fundraiser for the candidate.
The gathering in Rappahannock County was a microcosm of the increasingly political mask debate that rages like the virus itself across the country despite President Trump declaring, albeit reluctantly, several weeks ago: “We are asking everybody, when you are not able to socially distance, wear a mask.”
Many Republicans who don’t don masks when in large groups consider it a sign of solidarity, U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams has opined, feeling that face coverings infringe on their freedoms of choice. Collectively they are taking a stand against authority, even though they gladly wear shoes and shirts when required.
Trump’s advice to his “patriotic” supporters to put on masks wasn’t issued until his re-election campaign advisors suggested an economic recovery could come faster if more Americans followed the public health guidelines. Trump’s simple request, he was told, coupled with a new round of coronavirus relief funding could also improve his poll numbers going into November.
“I am with the president on opening up our economy,” Good replied when asked if he supported another stimulus package for the tens of millions of sidelined Americans, many seeing their $600-per-week unemployment bene ts dry up in recent days. “There’s no government program, there's no government package that can rescue us from the results of the government shutdown.”
The candidate added that “when you’re trying to get some 40 million Americans back to work, reforming immigration and limiting the number of immigrants who come and take American jobs for lower wages . . . is even greater [a priority] to try to get Americans back to work.
“I also think that the pandemic has again demonstrated further the need for us to get our scal house in order, so we’re in a better position to weather crises like this nancially. You cannot separate what you would like to do from a policy standpoint from the fact you come in with $24 trillion worth of debt before the crisis hits.”
Like the president, Good said it is vital for a rebounding economy to reopen the nation’s schools, a belief shared by an overwhelming majority of school parents in Rappahannock County, according to a recent Rappahannock County Public Schools (RCPS) survey.
“I think that teachers are essential workers and education is essential for our kids,” he said. “I think we can take reasonable precautions and reasonably protect them. It’s demonstrated that there’s very little risk for children, for kids, and so I agree with the president about getting our kids back to school and we will weather this storm together.”
RECALLING RIGGLEMAN
In his quest to climb Capitol Hill — having dethroned a freshman congressman from his own political party in the process, an almost unheard of feat in national politics — all that remains in the way of the former Campbell County supervisor is Dr. Cameron Webb, who if elected as a Democrat would become the rst African-American medical doctor ever to be sworn-in to the U.S. House of Representatives.
“There’s nothing more American than when we defeat an incumbent,” Good said Friday of fellow Republican Denver Riggleman, who barely found his way around the hallowed halls of Congress before Good sent him packing. “We are a government of the people, by the people, for the people. And the power belongs with the people.
“And so when our representatives don’t do what we sent them there to do we have the right and responsibility to recall them, to term limit them, to replace them. And we are just thankful to the people of the h district who responded overwhelmingly to our true conservative
message.”
Despite his endorsement from President Trump, Riggleman could only watch as a steady stream of vehicles pulled into a COVID- choreographed drive-thru convention this past June at Tree of Life Ministries in Good’s Campbell County, where Republicans promptly unloaded 58 percent support for Good. All told, just under 2,500 delegates cast ballots through their car windows, an historic day the nominee won’t soon forget.
“Despite being outspent ten-to- one gave us a resounding victory in what was a record turnout of delegates — our understanding the largest turnout of delegates in the history of the h district from a convention standpoint,” Good told this newspaper.
“To have twenty- ve-hundred delegates participate a er the convention had been delayed some seven weeks or so was, I really think, a great testimony to democracy and to the people in the h district asserting their values and their principles for a true conservative candidate.”
WEBB TO REMOVE
With the Nov. 3 election less than 75 days away, Good is banking on private fundraisers like this one held in Rappahannock County, plus whatever - nancial boost the national Republican Party will funnel into his campaign co ers, to put him over the top.
The race already is garnering national attention. This past Sunday, for example, the New York Times wrote how the ercely biblical conservative in his opposition to same-sex marriage (one all-male ceremony was actually o ciated by Riggleman last year to the dismay of district Republicans) has taken to rally clergy members against Virginia’s new law prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
In the meantime, Webb has easily out-fundraised Good — the Democrat’s second quarter nance numbers stood at $850,624 compared to the Republican’s $75,675 — although Good told us Friday “we’re working hard on fundraising.”
“We expect it to be a competitive race,” he said. “We know that the Democrats are pouring a lot of resources into this race. And we’re going to ght every day for every vote. We’re going to ght to earn the support of every voter in the h district. And we believe that our conservative Republican principles will be what will be selected by the voters come November third.”
One unanswered question is just how red Virginia’s h Congressional District, a Republican bastion stretching from north of Rappahannock County to the North Carolina border — and the rest of the nation, for that matter — will remain a er Election Day.
“We expect President Trump to win Virginia, to win this district, and we expect to give him someone in Congress who will support his agenda in Washington,” Good predicted. “I think enthusiasm will be high for this election. I think people recognize the job the president has done. I think people recognize the challenge of the [COVID-19] health situation, an unforeseen situation that obviously makes everything more di cult for everyone. I don’t think folks blame the president for that.
“I think the president’s done some wonderful things, some very wise things to respond to that,” he said. “And I think folks will recognize the wonderful job he has done for this almost three and a half years and I think they will reward him with a second term.”
As for Bob Good?
“Bob Good is a conservative Republican certainly. And I think there’s a reason we won overwhelmingly the nomination. And I believe that we will win this race. And we’re going to do everything we can to make sure that happens.”