Rep. Bob Good, R-VA05, was forced to leave an event in his district over the weekend where Republicans gathered to support Donald Trump. Good supporters believe the event was doubling as a campaign event for state Sen. John McGuire, who is primarying him for the Republican nomination this year.
The event occurred in Farmville at a grand opening for a Trump store. The space was rented by the now-former Appomatox County GOP Committee Chair, Karen Angulo. She asked Good to leave the event, even though he says he received a text inviting all Republicans to attend in support of their likely presidential nominee.
Good has faced criticism from McGuire and other Trump supporters for endorsing Ron DeSantis before he dropped out of the presidential race. He endorsed Trump as soon as DeSantis dropped out.
“We invited our State Senator John McGuire as a special guest, because John has been a supporter of President Trump and never wavered, unlike Bob Good,” Angulo said in a written statement released by McGuire’s campaign.
“After being told the night before that he was not welcome, Bob showed up uninvited, and attempted to make the day about himself, instead of President Trump,” Angulo continued. “I repeatedly asked Bob to leave. Once he finally relented and left our store, Bob and his paid campaign staff stood out front for over four hours trying to block people from entering our store. The whole thing was very embarrassing behavior for anyone, let alone a sitting member of congress.”
Angulo resigned as the fifth district Republican committee chair shortly after the event. She blamed Good’s consultants for removing her, but that is not possible.
Elected officials cannot remove committee chairs – members vote for the leadership positions at mass meetings.
Her resignation came shortly after a challenger announced they were running against her.
McGuire and Good were at the store simultaneously, and sources say they did not interact. McGuire can be seen in a video standing in the background as the interaction between Angulo and Good occurs.
In the video, Angulo can be heard asking Good, “Are you really doing this?”
Good appears to be showing her the text message he received inviting Republicans to the event.
“Are you saying that only some Republicans are welcome?” he asked Angulo.
“I am saying that you do not have an invitation to hijack the store,” she responded. “So I am asking you all to leave.”
Reading from his phone, Good says, “Please come support President Trump.”
Good’s campaign also sent a text advertising the event and noted that he would be in attendance during specific times. The timeframe that Good said he would be present in the store is opposite of the times that McGuire was scheduled to be there.
After more discussion, Good thanked Angulo and appeared to leave the store.
This entire interaction happened a few feet from McGuire, who continued talking to another event attendee.
“Good has a long track record of working against President Trump during the 2016 and 2024 elections,” the McGuire campaign said Tuesday. “In contrast, John McGuire has been with Trump since he came down the escalator.”
The Good campaign says that McGuire has been dishonest about him.
“We are very disappointed in the behavior of the McGuire campaign and their surrogates this past Saturday,” the Good campaign said in a statement to Virginia Scope. “Unfortunately, this fits with how they have conducted themselves thus far in this campaign to smear and lie about Congressman Good, his conservative record, and support for President Trump. Mr. McGuire has been dishonest since the day he launched his campaign, just a week after being elected to the State Senate, and we expect no less in the weeks and months ahead.”