Rep. Bob Good Switches Support From DeSantis to Trump

House Freedom Caucus Chair Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.) endorsed former President Donald Trump for the 2024 presidential race following the exit of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, whom he had been supporting.

“It is my privilege to provide my complete and total endorsement for Donald J. Trump as the 47th President of the United States. President Trump was the greatest President of my lifetime, and we need him to reinstate the policies that were working so well for America,” Mr. Good said in a Jan. 22 X post.

“We need President Trump to secure our border, strengthen our military, re-establish our energy dominance, and reinvigorate our economy. I am committed to doing everything I can to help ensure he is reelected President,” he continued. “I call on all Republicans, independents, and Democrats who love America and are concerned about her current direction, to join me in supporting Donald J. Trump!”

“I am now today suspending my campaign,” Mr. DeSantis said in a video announcement. President Trump “has my endorsement because we cannot go back to the old Republican guard of yesteryear. … A repackaged form of warmed-over corporatism that Nikki Haley represents.”

Past Endorsement

Mr. Good announced his previous endorsement of Mr. DeSantis in May last year, despite having been himself endorsed by President Trump in 2020 when he ran for Congress in Virginia.

“DeSantis has been the model for battling against the harmful Leftist policies that have been oppressing his state and our country,” Mr. Good said at the time.

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“DeSantis gives us the best opportunity to win and restore the conservative America-first agenda. We need eight years of his leadership in Washington, and I stand ready to help elect the first former member of the House Freedom Caucus to the presidency.”

“The House Freedom Caucus board is filled with Never Trumpers led by their new chairman angry disloyal MAGA traitor Bob Good. HFC and their donors are victims of a hostile takeover by Never Trumpers and that’s going to be a disaster for Pres Trump’s next administration,” she said in an X post.

“Bob Good ran on MAGA and Trump’s endorsement in 2020 AND 2022 and now endorses DeSantis and says ‘Trump is unelectable’ … Well Trump just proved Bob Good wrong by DOMINATING in Iowa!!” Ms. Greene wrote. “President Trump is going to win in 24, and he needs loyal America First warriors NOT Congressmen on a power trip who will stab him in the back.”

Good’s Reelection Chances

With Mr. Good having earlier supported Mr. DeSantis for the 2024 primary, his chances for being reelected in Virginia could be affected.

Mr. Good was elected to Virginia’s 5th Congressional District after beating another Republican candidate who had come under fire for officiating a homosexual marriage.

“I’ve supported President Trump in 2016 and in 2020, and I would enthusiastically support President Trump if he was the nominee again,” Mr. Good told Cardinal News in a Jan. 17 report, before Mr. DeSantis dropped out.

“But I endorsed Gov. DeSantis back in May because I believed, as I do now, that we need eight years of conservative leadership, and I believe that Gov. DeSantis gives us the best chance to win a general election. And I believe that the job that he did in Florida is the model for the country.”

Mr. Good is the latest GOP lawmaker to publicly endorse President Trump for the 2024 election.

The former president has over 200 endorsements from U.S. House and Senate members, governors, and other state officials. He will face former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley in the New Hampshire primary on Jan. 23.

Ms. Haley “just hasn’t faced the onslaught of years of media attacks, of super PAC attacks that Donald Trump has faced,” he said. “And, frankly, the fact that Trump is still standing and is still leading in the polls against Joe Biden suggests he has real political resilience.”

“I know a lot of people who are choosing Nikki Haley think she’s the low-baggage candidate,“ he said. ”In reality, she’s the candidate the Democrats haven’t teed off on, but they will tee off on her if she’s the nominee. She won’t be, but if she is, she will face exactly what Donald Trump has faced for the past six years.”