(The Center Square) — State Sen. John McGuire has maintained a narrow lead over incumbent Rep. Bob Good in the 5th Congressional District Republican primary since just a few hours after polls closed on Tuesday, but the election has yet to be called – and Good is calling foul.
Though Good hasn’t used the term “election fraud,” he’s suggested as much through multiple posts on X, speaking of a “fair and accurate count of every legal vote,” “legitimate participating voters,” and “full transparency.”
Despite McGuire winning Trump’s endorsement, Good appeared Thursday on host Steve Bannon’s podcast War Room, highlighting instances where fraud could have occurred. Bannon was affiliated with Breitbart News and is a former Trump adviser.
“We had one [location] where they started two hours before they were supposed to, and for some reason, my opponent’s representative was there, but we weren’t notified that they were going to start two hours early,” Good told Bannon. “We don’t know what happened in the two hours before we got there.”
Bannon interjected, “Hang on. We’ve got to sort this out for November…. How did they start two hours beforehand?”
“This is what drives people nuts,” Bannon said, later calling the 5th Congressional District primary “an absolute disgrace.”
That same day on X, Good posted about incidents where a fire alarm was pulled in polling locations in Albemarle and Hanover counties and the city of Lynchburg.
“We had 3 ‘fires’ on election day in 3 precincts, all requiring the precincts to be evacuated for 20 minutes… What is the probability? Does anyone recall even 1 fire at a precinct on election day?” he wrote.
“AI estimates the probability being 0.0000000318% chance.”
McGuire has maintained he is the Republican nominee since Wednesday, pinning a victory post to the top of his X profile.
“My life is a testament to the fact that America is the greatest country on this planet and I’m so honored to have the chance to serve her again,” McGuire wrote.
The primary results were at one point within 0.5% — the range within which the state will pay for a recount, if requested. But now that all the results are in, McGuire now holds a 0.54% margin over Good, meaning Good would have to fund the recount of the district’s more than 60,000 votes.
