In a last-ditch effort to remain in Congress, Rep. Bob Good has filed a petition for a recount in Virginia’s 5th Congressional District GOP primary.
After serving in the House for two terms, Good was challenged in the GOP primary by Virginia state Sen. John McGuire who beat the incumbent by just 374 votes.
The results were certified on July 2, leaving a recount as Good’s only hope at remaining in Congress.
It’s a costly endeavor and one that experts say is unlikely to change the outcome of the race.
McGuire’s camp maintains that Good doesn’t have a chance.
“Recounting the ballots and delaying the inevitable may make Bob feel better, but it won’t make him congressman again,” the McGuire campaign said in statement sent to The Daily Progress. “More people voted for John McGuire than voted for Bob Good, no matter how many times he counts it. It is hard to imagine there are donors out there willing to invest in what is certainly another losing effort by Bob.”
The effort to begin fundraising for the recount began days after the June 18 primary. On Wednesday, Good sent an email to supporters announcing that he had filed a petition for recount in Goochland Circuit Court.
He wrote that the recount is expected to cost as much as $100,000, a figure that some were skeptical he’d be able to meet by the Friday filing deadline.
“My opponent and his Washington D.C. operatives have said repeatedly that we couldn’t afford a recount, but you have called for this recount and you have made it possible with your generous donations. We are almost to the finish line, and we are running ‘with endurance the race that is set before us,’” Good wrote, quoting from the Epistle to the Hebrews in the Bible.
On Thursday morning, a court clerk told The Daily Progress that the court was “still waiting on the proper paperwork from the attorney before we can receive the petition.”
That changed in the afternoon. The petition has been filed and is available for review at the courthouse. Judge Claude Worrell will preside over the recount process and determine the rules of procedure.
Good will have to foot the bill himself, because he lost by 0.6%. Virginia requires the state to pay for a recount in elections where the result is decided by a 0.5% margin or less.
According to Kyle Kondik of the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics, the odds of a recount changing the result are slim.
“The prospects of success are not good. There’s a reason why the state pays if it’s within 0.5%, because that’s within the range you might expect to find some error to change the process,” Kondik told The Daily Progress.
Since his narrow loss, Good has made baseless allegations that the election was somehow rigged against him, raising concerns about “legal votes” and calling for a “forensic audit.”
He alluded to those same concerns in his Wednesday email.
“This is the critical next step to ensuring that every legal vote from the June 18 primary is properly counted,” Good wrote. “Our campaign team has been working diligently to ensure that every primary election canvass was properly observed, public data from election night was reviewed, and that our legal team is ready for the upcoming recount.”
Source: www.dailyprogress.com
Be First to Comment