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| Rep.-elect Bob Good, R-Va., in an interview with Fox News, slammed Democrats over their opposition to recent bills Republicans have introduced that would have limited abortion. (Bob Good) |
Rep.-elect Bob Good, who previously worked as an associate athletic director for Liberty University, plans to put social issues at the forefront during his time in Congress, slamming Democrats as extreme for their stance on abortion and saying his religion "is the most important thing in my life."
Good, R-Va., is a former county supervisor and also worked in the lending division of CitiGroup. To win his seat in Virginia's Fifth District, Good beat Rep. Denver Riggleman in a primary, after Riggleman ran into controversy for officiating a same-sex marriage for two of his former campaign volunteers.
Good's relationship with Liberty has spanned back to his time as a wrestler at the Christian school. The congressman-elect said in an interview with Fox News that he'll be guided by those "Judeo-Christian principles" in office and blasted Democrats for working to stall a handful of GOP-backed bills to restrict abortion.
Those efforts were signs of "the extremism that has encapsulated the Democrat Party where we're even winning seats in places like California and New York, along with statehouses across the country," Good said. "Here in Virginia, we've got two senators who claim to be moderates, neither of which could bring themselves to vote in favor of the Born Alive [Abortion Survivors Protection] Act. And, we also did not pass the Pain-Capable [Unborn Child Protection] Act."
Good continued: "Let's at least ban abortion when we know the baby in the womb can feel pain just like you and I, and our two senators from Virginia and the Democrat Party could not bring themselves to vote for that."
Among his top priorities in Congress: passing "sanctity of life legislation" and standing up for "religious liberties and protection in courts of faith and family, which I think is under assault by the radical agenda of the left."
A self-declared "broad-based conservative," Good also said he'll support school choice and will serve as a "deficit hawk."
"There's a reckoning that's coming," the 55-year-old said. "We'll be the first generation to leave a legacy of debt to the next generation. Previous generations felt a responsibility to retire that... not to leave that burden to the next generation. Our generation has failed — those my age and older."
"We continue to add to it. The pandemic – I'm sorry the crisis, the corona crisis – has exacerbated that," Good continued, foreshadowing comments he would make a few days later at the "Women for America First" rally in Washington, D.C., supporting President Trump's post-election legal efforts.
"I can't tell you how great it is to look out there and see your faces," Good said at the rally. "This looks like a group of people that gets that this is a phony pandemic. It's a serious virus but it's a virus. It's not a pandemic. It's great to see your faces. You get it, you stand up against tyranny. Thank you for being here today. Thank you for saying no to the insanity."
The coronavirus has killed more than 300,000 Americans, according to Johns Hopkins University findings.
His comments went viral with critics panning them as a caricature of coronavirus denialism. But, just moments later, Good made other comments that will put him in the center of another controversy shortly after the new year. Good said he will join a small group of House members planning to challenge the Electoral College slates from a handful of states that President-elect Joe Biden won. That's expected to happen on Jan. 6, when Congress meets in a joint session to count the Electoral College votes.
"We're going to keep fighting. I'm going to fight with Mo Brooks from Alabama," Good said, referring to the congressman leading the charge on challenging the election results. "I'm going to fight with the others in Congress who are going to challenge this. We're going to keep fighting until every legal vote is counted and only legal votes are counted."
The effort is unlikely to succeed.
Such a challenge would require the backing of a senator, and it's not clear that any individual senator will support the challenges yet. Further, once a challenge is made by at least one senator and one House member, it will go to a vote in each chamber. Between the several GOP senators who already have congratulated Biden on his win and the Democrats' majority in the House, it is nearly certain that Congress will not vote to reject any state's electoral votes.
Good, also at the "Women for America First" rally, called Trump "the greatest president of my lifetime and your lifetime."
While challenging the election results will be the first thing Good does in Congress, it will just be one thing. The new congressman said he would be happy with an assignment on either the Financial Services Committee or the Education Committee in the House, due to his background working in both the lending industry and at a university.
But, no matter what, Good said his social conservativism will be central to how he approaches every issue as he embarks on his upcoming term.
"I'm proud to tell you that I'm a born-again Christian, it's the most important thing in my life," Good said in his rally address. "The media hates it when I say this, that I'm a constitutional conservative and I'm a biblical conservative."
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