Robert George Good (born September 11, 1965) is an American politician and former athletic director who served as the U.S. representative for Virginia's 5th congressional district from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a member of the Board of Supervisors in Campbell County, Virginia from 2016 to 2019. Good also worked at his alma mater, Liberty University, and for Citi.
Good was first elected to Congress in 2020, after defeating incumbent Denver Riggleman in the Republican convention. Good supported the removal of Kevin McCarthy as Speaker of the House and became chair of the House Freedom Caucus in January 2024. He also endorsed Ron DeSantis instead of Donald Trump in the 2024 Republican Party presidential primaries. As a result, Good faced a primary challenge from state senator John McGuire, who was recruited by Kevin McCarthy and endorsed by Donald Trump. McGuire's victory was certified on July 2, by a margin of 0.6%. Good requested a recount, which he lost. He resigned as chair of the Freedom Caucus on September 17, 2024, and was succeeded by Andy Harris.
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Early life and education
Good was born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, and lived in North Jersey before moving to Lynchburg, Virginia, with his family at age nine. He attended Liberty Christian Academy, where he was a member of the wrestling team. Good was awarded a partial wrestling scholarship to Liberty University, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in finance and a Master of Business Administration.
Career
For 17 years, Good worked for Citi Financial. When he announced his campaign for Congress in 2019, he was serving as an associate athletic director for development at Liberty University.
Good was a member of the Campbell County Board of Supervisors from 2016 to 2019. During his three years as a county supervisor, he supported socially conservative causes, voting to condemn the U.S. Supreme Court decision recognizing a constitutional right to same-sex marriage; to declare the county a "Second Amendment sanctuary"; and to call upon the Virginia General Assembly to restrict transgender restroom use.
U.S. House of Representatives
Elections
Good ran against incumbent Denver Riggleman in the Republican nominating convention for Virginia's 5th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives. He defeated Riggleman with 58% of the vote from party delegates during a drive-through nominating convention instead of a primary election. During the campaign, Good criticized Riggleman for officiating at the same-sex wedding of two former campaign volunteers.
Good campaigned on a conservative platform, espousing hard-line views on immigration policy and opposition to same-sex marriage and aligning himself with President Donald Trump. He called for the repeal of the Affordable Care Act and opposed mask mandates during the COVID-19 pandemic. He did not wear a face covering or encourage the wearing of face coverings at campaign events, and opposed restrictions on businesses to slow the spread of the virus. Good suggested that the wearing of face coverings might be harmful. In the November 3 general election, Good defeated Democratic nominee Cameron Webb, a physician, 52.6% (210,988) to 47.4% (190,315).
In 2022, Good defeated Democratic nominee Josh Throneburg with 57.6% of the vote.
Good had initially backed Ron DeSantis, who was a founder of the Freedom Caucus, against Trump in the 2024 Republican Party presidential primaries. He considered DeSantis more of a "true conservative" than Trump on issues like abortion and gun control. Because of this, Trump would endorse Good's primary opponent, John McGuire on May 28, 2024. Good later switched his endorsement to Trump after DeSantis backed out of the primary. Good continued to use campaign signage featuring Trump's name and image, resulting in Trump sending a cease-and-desist letter to Good. McGuire was also backed by former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who Good voted to remove from the speakership. Representative Warren Davidson, a fellow member of the Freedom Caucus, took an unprecedented step in backing McGuire against Good, who chaired the Caucus.
Good lost the primary election to McGuire in June 2024. Good did not concede and promised a recount of the votes. He lost by slightly over 0.5% of the vote, which would require his campaign to foot the costs of a recount. Good cast doubt on the legitimacy of the election, inaccurately claiming that fires broke out at polling places and alleging a lack of security for election drop boxes in Lynchburg, where Good sought to block certification of election results. Other Republican members of Congress have ridiculed Good's complaints, while McGuire has called on him to accept the results of the election. A recount completed on August 1 confirmed that Good lost to McGuire by 370 votes, after which Good conceded the election.
Tenure
After his election, Good appeared amid the pandemic at a rally in Washington, D.C., in which Trump supporters protested the Supreme Court's rejection of a lawsuit attempting to subvert the results of the election, which Trump lost to Joe Biden. During the rally, Good promoted the theory that Democrats had perpetrated a vast conspiracy to steal the election. He said that while the virus was real, the pandemic was "phony". Good told a maskless crowd that "this is a phony pandemic" and, the next day, suggested that precautions to prevent the spread of the disease were a "hoax".
On January 6, 2021, Good voted against certifying the election of President-elect Biden. On January 17, he voted against a House bill awarding Congressional Gold Medals to the U.S. Capitol Police and the District of Columbia Metropolitan Police Department for their roles in protecting the Capitol and members of Congress during the storming of the United States Capitol. He and 20 other House Republicans voted against a similar resolution in June 2021.
On June 26, 2021, Good appeared at Bedford County, Virginia's, second annual militia muster, saying he was happy to be at the event with "proud patriots and constitutional conservatives who are doing their part to help strengthen our nation and to fight for the things that we believe in".
In July 2021, Good voted against the bipartisan ALLIES Act, which would have increased the number of special immigrant visas for Afghan allies of the U.S. military by 8,000 during its invasion of Afghanistan while also reducing some application requirements that caused long application backlogs. The bill passed the House 407–16.
On October 26, 2021, while the House discussed anti-domestic violence legislation, Good said: "Nearly everything that plagues our society can be attributed to a failure to follow God's laws for morality and his rules for and definition of marriage and family."
In October 2021, Good encouraged a group of high school students from Rappahannock County, Virginia, to defy a local school mask mandate, saying, "If nobody in Rappahannock complies, they can't stop everyone".
In November 2021, Good wrote Virginia Governor-elect Glenn Youngkin a letter asking Youngkin to halt a federal mask mandate once he took office.
Committee assignments
Committee on Education and Labor
Committee on Budget
Caucus memberships
Freedom Caucus
Republican Study Committee
Personal life
Good and his wife, Tracey, have three children. They live in Evington, southwest of Lynchburg.
Good has described himself as a born-again Christian and a "biblical conservative".