Primaries Become Grudge Matches as Republicans Target Their Own

Rep. Bob Good is pro-gun, anti-abortion, and has called Donald Trump the best president of his lifetime. On paper, the Virginia Republican—who rules the far-right Freedom Caucus and helped define its hardball tactics—should be a party darling and shoo-in to keep his seat.

But Republicans from Trump to House moderate Rep. Don Bacon (Neb.) are spending money and political capital to try to make this Good’s last term. They’re openly supporting his opponent, state Sen. John McGuire, in next week’s primary.

The messy race in Virginia’s 5th District embodies a broader trend: House Republicans across the spectrum are bucking tradition by openly campaigning against incumbent colleagues.

Rep. Bob Good faces a primary challenge next week.

Photographer: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

The effort to topple Good is driven more by personality than politics, after he helped oust ex-Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and endorsed a different presidential candidate before joining Trump’s supporters.

Three other Republicans who voted to oust McCarthy last October also drew primary opponents this year: South Carolina’s Nancy Mace won her widely watched contest Tuesday; Arizona’s Eli Crane and Florida’s Matt Gaetz hope to fend off challengers later this summer.

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Such primary season cannibalism isn’t unique to Republicans. Former Rep. Mondaire Jones (D) this month rescinded his endorsement of fellow New York Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D) over Bowman’s criticism of Israel — which prompted a prominent progressive PAC to withdraw its support for Jones.

But for the GOP, the attacks could signal a divisive new normal, haunting the party into next year and in future election cycles.  

The culture of members openly trashing colleagues has even become a recurring scene on the House floor. Six “rule” votes, which are traditionally unquestioned procedural moves, have failed during this Congress—the most in any modern session.

“Party norms have eroded, at least on the Republican side,” Claremont McKenna College political scientist Jack Pitney said. “The norm of public collegiality has also withered.”

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Tea Party Roots

The chaos is more than a decade in the making, with roots in the Tea Party movement that upended the GOP. Former Speaker John Boehner wrestled with his party’s insurgent right flank before resigning in 2015, the same year conservatives founded the Freedom Caucus.

In 2020, party leaders ostracized Rep. Steve King (R) after the Iowan’s inflammatory statements about race and immigration, and some members donated to Randy Feenstra’s successful campaign to replace him. Two years later, Republican leaders worked to unseat Rep. Liz Cheney (Wyo.) for her lacerating criticism of Trump’s Jan. 6 actions.

Still, this cycle is different. House Republicans have helped fund campaigns to unseat GOP colleagues in more than a half-dozen primaries, according to a Bloomberg Government review of campaign finance records.

“Everything’s more intense these days,” said Rep. Frank Lucas (R-Okla.), who’s served in the House for three decades.

The conflict is playing out in an increasingly personal way, said Brookings Institution senior fellow Sarah Binder. Republicans going at each other’s throats in primaries is “one more beat of this factionalized party,” she added.

Social media and online fundraising also help backbenchers become household names and raise money.

The pattern extends beyond one chamber. Sen. Mike Lee, the Utah Republican whose rise to prominence started during the Tea Party movement, is actively campaigning to replace a Utah incumbent, Rep. Celeste Maloy, with a political unknown, Colby Jenkins.

“We don’t really have time anymore for the normal politics,” Lee told the Deseret News. “We need people who are willing to play aggressively, we need people who are willing to say ‘No’ to their own party’s leadership.”

Intraparty temperatures could lower next year if Republicans win the White House, Senate, and House, some members and politics watchers noted. A trifecta might unite the party around viable policies like tax cuts, Binder said, though it’s not a “silver bullet” to end the conflicts.

“Revenge tours” have become more common since Trump’s ascension in the party, said GOP strategist Doug Heye, who was deputy chief of staff in 2014 to then-House Majority Leader Eric Cantor when the Virginia Republican lost his primary. House seats drawn for one party— where the only race has become the primary— are pushing Republicans and Democrats “more to extremes,” he added.

“What this tells us: There’s more of this to continue,” Heye said.

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Shades of McCarthy

Some of this spring’s animosity flows from the free-for-all that toppled McCarthy in October.

A powerhouse fundraiser who as speaker supported GOP incumbents, he has since used his affiliated PAC to donate to challengers of some of the eight Republicans who voted to remove him, including giving $10,000 to Mace’s opponent, Catherine Templeton.  

Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) survived a primary challenge this week.

Photographer: Al Drago/Bloomberg

Six of the eight are running for re-election, including Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.). He’s unopposed in his primary but bemoaned the “dark money” flooding into other primaries from the ex-speaker’s allies. “That money was given to fight Democrats,” Burchett said.

The feud goes both ways. Some staunch conservatives have worked to oust the more centrist colleagues they accuse of working too closely with Democrats.

Good, the Freedom Caucus chair, gave money to the primary challenger against Bacon, a member of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus whose competitive Omaha district backed Joe Biden over Trump in 2020. Bacon retaliated with a donation to Good’s primary challenger.

Good also sent money to the campaign of gun-rights activist Brandon Herrera, who last month lost a bid to unseat the more moderate Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas). In a CNN interview, Gonzales said Good and Gaetz were among the “scumbags” in Congress.

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McGuire, Good’s primary opponent, has less cash on hand but notable support leading up to next Tuesday’s vote. Since getting a Trump endorsement, the former Navy SEAL had several sitting members stump for him, including Reps. Austin Scott (R-Ga.) and Ryan Zinke (R-Mont.).

“We can do better than Good — we can do great with John McGuire,” Zinke, a fellow ex-SEAL, said in a brief hallway interview on Capitol Hill. “I support the president’s endorsement 100%.”

Even some with ties to the corporate influence industry have taken the unusual step of getting involved in the primary. The political action committee of defense contractor Lockheed Martin Corp. donated $2,500 to McGuire in May, campaign finance records show.

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Lobbyists sending money to McGuire’s campaign also include Steve Stombres, who runs Harbinger Strategies, and was chief of staff to Cantor; Jeff Miller, who runs Miller Strategies and is a close friend of McCarthy; and Marc Lampkin, a partner at Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck.

“John McGuire embodies what it means to be a dedicated, patriotic American,” Miller said in an email. “During these times of increased threats to America and our ally, Israel we need serious people in Congress, not idiots.”

Good said he’s confident he’ll win the June 18 primary and dismissed the long shadow that could loom over the GOP because of intraparty fights like his own. He said Republicans will need to work together to govern — though he still slipped a jab at his party’s current leadership into his answer.

“We’ll have a job to do, and that’s going to be to actually do what Republicans elect us to do,” Good said, “instead of joining hands with Democrats and doing what we’ve done for the last year and a half.”

The undercurrent in that message is why, even if Republicans keep their House majority, some members worry the dynamic will continue and make it impossible to govern.

“People have got to stop it,” said Rep. Dan Meuser (R-Pa.). “They need to focus on the greater good. They need to understand that their personality issues don’t matter. And they got to get over themselves—I mean, it’s a maturity problem, I guess, in some cases.”