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Outgoing US House Representative Bob Good didn’t mince words in his farewell speech Wednesday, saying that “the less we do, the better.”
The Virginia lawmaker also argued that “most of what we do here in Washington is bad, certainly unconstitutional, unjustified and often downright harmful.”
He went on to say that Congress Republicans “must be proud of the charge that this over the past two years Congress has done less than most Congresses.”
“As Republicans, what should we have done more of what Biden and Schumer would agree to,” Good added, referring to President Joe Biden and The Senate Majority leader Chuck Schumer.
J. Scott Applewhite/AP
Good led the conservative House Freedom Caucus, but narrowly lost his primary over the summer to Virginia State Senator John McGuire, who was endorsed by the president-elect. Donald Trump. Good conceded the race after losing a statewide recount.
Good’s defeat made him the first house Republicans to lose his primary this year; he found himself on Trump’s bad side when he endorsed the Florida governor Ron DeSantis in his primary campaign against Trump for the Republican presidential nomination.
Although Good endorsed Trump after DeSantis dropped out, it was too little, too late. Trump responded to Goode’s endorsement by throwing his support behind his primary challenger.
“Bob Good is BAD FOR VIRGINIA AND BAD FOR THE USA,” Trump wrote on Truth Social in late May. “He turned his back on our incredible movement and attack and fought me constantly until recently when he gave a warm and ‘loving’ endorsement – But really it was too late.”
In his farewell speech Wednesday, Good said that when he first ran for Congress in 2020, he believed he would have “the opportunity to serve with President Trump, help him build on the successes of his first term and help him to implement his second term’s agenda.”
“Unfortunately, that has not been the case,” he continued, referring to Trump’s 2020 election loss to President Joe Biden.
“And like most Republicans, my efforts have been of utmost necessity directed at fighting the Democrats’ agenda.”
Trump wasn’t the only Republican who wanted Good out of Congress. NBC News reported that outside groups tied to Republicans such as former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy poured nearly $7 million into the Virginia primary in a push to unseat Good.
The outgoing representative was among eight Republicans who had voted to remove McCarthy from the speakership. Good also frustrated members of his party when he voted against sending foreign aid to Ukraine and Israel, and rejected a debt ceiling deal McCarthy reached with the Biden White House.
