WASHINGTON — A political action committee helping Republicans get elected to Congress is doing the unusual: spending more than $450,000 to defeat a GOP incumbent. Incumbent two-term conservative Rep. Bob Good, R-Va., voted last fall to remove former Rep. Kevin McCarthy as speaker of the House of Representatives.
It’s just the latest example of how money is flowing in races involving some of the eight Republican lawmakers who voted with Democrats to oust McCarthy. About $3.3 million was spent on advertising during the Virginia race that starts Friday, according to media tracking company AdImpact.
The ad buy underlines the internal divisions that have opened up within the Republican Party since McCarthy’s ouster. The rancor has divided the party over key votes in the House of Representatives and has also spilled over into some of this year’s primaries.
The latest round of ad buys was unveiled Monday and comes from Defending Main Street, a super PAC affiliated with nearly 90 Republican lawmakers in the Republican Main Street Partnership. The group describes its members as “conservative, governing Republicans.” It is only the second time the group has worked to unseat a Republican incumbent president.
The first incumbent the group tried to dethrone was then-Rep. Steve King of Iowa in 2020. King was removed from his committee assignments after complaining that white supremacy and white nationalism had become offensive terms. He ultimately lost in the GOP primaries. Now the group is focusing on the good.
“We spend 99% of our money protecting incumbents and adding more mainstream conservatives to the House of Representatives, but this was a unique situation,” said Sarah Chamberlain, the group’s president and CEO.
The good has pushed Republicans to pursue deeper cuts in federal spending, even if it means risking a government shutdown. He leads the most conservative members of the Republican conference as chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, and has opposed the spending deal McCarthy struck with President Joe Biden so the government could continue paying its bills. When Chairman Mike Johnson split a $95 billion aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan into three separate votes, he voted no on each piece.
Chamberlain said her group would have worked to defeat Good even if he had not voted to impeach McCarthy because of his voting record. The ad purchased by the group does not mention Good, but includes a message of support from a former local sheriff for Good’s opponent, state Sen. John McGuire, a former Navy SEAL.
“Defending Kevin is not what Main Street does, although we supported Kevin 100% and we are sorry for everything that happened,” Chamberlain said of McCarthy.
Groups coming to support McGuire are not making a race for McCarthy, who himself recently called on his followers on to serve again. Enter $5 today.”
But Good’s supporters clearly want to make McCarthy a problem. In a fundraising pitch, an election group working to expand the House Freedom Caucus said McCarthy “and his establishment allies” were dumping millions of dollars into the race to defeat Good.
And Diana Shores, Good’s campaign manager, said McCarthy “is on a revenge tour, targeting conservative leaders like Congressman Bob Good, who worked to oust him as speaker for his poor leadership.”
Shores said in an email that she expects voters in the district will “see through the swamp tactics of groups like Defending Main Street.”
A group called the American Patriots PAC, backed largely by donations from Kenneth Griffin, the CEO of the investment firm Citadel, has also begun pouring money into the race, spending more than $916,000 so far, according to FEC filings.
In a statement, Griffin made no reference to McCarthy, focusing instead on McGuire’s decade as a Navy SEAL and saying the PAC’s focus is on bringing exemplary leaders to Washington.
“The American Patriots PAC steadfastly supports veteran candidates who are committed to our nation, and John McGuire exemplifies this commitment,” said Griffin.
Meanwhile, a PAC called Virginians for Freedom has spent more than $760,000 opposing Good, FEC reports show.
One vendor used by both groups is Brian O. Walsh, a longtime adviser, ally and friend of McCarthy who is coordinating efforts to unseat some of the eight Republicans who voted to oust McCarthy last fall. Walsh declined a request for comment. He also serves as a senior adviser to the American Prosperity Alliance, which has spent nearly $300,000 on advertising in the Virginia race so far, according to the tracking company AdImpact.
Good is getting some outside help, with Senator Rand Paul-affiliated Protect Freedom PAC spending nearly $675,000 in support of his re-election.
The political dynamics playing out in the Virginia race with Good and McGuire can be seen in another race with a Republican lawmaker who voted to impeach McCarthy.
In South Carolina, Rep. Nancy Mace is being challenged by Catherine Templeton, a former state agency director. A group called South Carolina Patriots PAC has spent more than $1 million fighting Mace.
American Prosperity Alliance, the group where McCarthy ally Walsh is a senior adviser, provided the South Carolina Patriots PAC with $15,000, according to the latest FEC quarterly report. That report does not include contributions from after March 31, so it is unclear for now where the political action committee gets all its money from.
Meanwhile, Club for Growth Action, a group that describes itself as trying to defeat big-government politicians, has weighed in on more than $475,000 in independent expenditures in support of Mace.
Two other Republicans who voted to impeach McCarthy, Reps. Eli Crane in Arizona and Matt Gaetz in Florida, have picked up Republican challengers in recent weeks.
Of the other four Republicans who voted to impeach McCarthy, Rep. Matt Rosendale is not seeking reelection in any Montana district, and Rep. Ken Buck has already withdrawn from his seat in Colorado. Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., has no primary opponent and Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona appears safe in his reelection bid.
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Associated Press writer Chad Day contributed to this report.