LOUISA, Virginia — No matter who wins Tuesday’s GOP primary battle between the leader of the conservative Freedom Caucus Rep. Bob Good and Virginia state Sen. John McGuire, the results will reverberate among House Republicans.

If Good goes down, he would be the first sitting chair in the influential group’s nearly decade-long history to be defeated — a loss that would embolden critics of the increasingly fractious bloc.

But if he wins, he’ll have done it despite strong opposition from former (and possibly future) President Donald Trump and only mild backing from Republican leaders, including House Speaker Mike Johnson — signaling friction ahead. “Mike Johnson has done nothing to help me in my race,” Good said in a Friday interview after campaigning outside the Louisa County courthouse.

McGuire boasts the backing of more than a half-dozen high-profile colleagues of Good’s in the House GOP. And after telling supporters outside the courthouse on Friday that McGuire and his backers misled Trump to win the former president’s support, Good said in an interview: “There’s people in the [former] president’s ear who have their own agenda, and they’re dishonest, and they’ve lied to him about me.”

He wouldn’t elaborate on the nature of those alleged lies beyond claiming he’s consistently supported Trump since 2016; Trump has made clear that Good’s early backing of Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) in the presidential primary helped prompt his endorsement of McGuire.

Rep. Eli Crane (R-Ariz.), a Freedom Caucus member who’s backing Good, said that if Good’s opponents are “able to take out the chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, it will send a definite message to other conservatives that want [to] challenge the status quo and make big moves.”

But if Good survives McGuire’s challenge, his allies predict he’ll emerge from the fight even more emboldened. Good may even have time to exact revenge should McGuire win the primary — there’s still a lot of legislating left to do this Congress and a lot of opportunities for him to cause trouble for the party’s fractured two-vote House majority.

In the run-up to primary day, the district was blanketed by competing Good vs. McGuire events. More than two dozen Hill GOP staffers led by Rep. William Timmons (R-S.C.) chartered a bus from Washington on Saturday to meet with and campaign for McGuire, a former Navy SEAL.

It was an unorthodox move by Timmons, but a clear revenge play. Good had backed the primary challenger Timmons defeated just a few days prior, so the South Carolina lawmaker decided to personally tell Virginia voters about their representative’s polarizing reputation within his party.

Among quite a few GOP colleagues, Good is nicknamed “Bob Bad” for what they call his abrasive criticism of fellow Republicans, and the blowback he’s received lately is a testament to the number of colleagues who consider themselves enemies. Former Speaker Kevin McCarthy — whom Good voted to oust last fall — and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) are among the Republican players backing McGuire.

The most talked-about McGuire endorser, of course, is the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. Trump’s campaign sent a cease-and-desist letter last month seeking to block Good’s campaign from putting the two men’s names together on signs. But the Good team kept using and touting signs with Trump’s name — to criticism from McGuire, who said in an interview that Good is trying to “trick people.”

Asked about the flap over his Trump-themed signs, Good replied: “I’m not talking about stupid topics. That’s a stupid topic.”

He may be onto something among his local base. Three Good supporters at his event, including Louisa Mayor Garland Nuckols, lauded the incumbent’s willingness to fight for conservative principles and largely shrugged off the attacks on Good from the former president they support. Good’s supporters in the district include a strong contingent of local elected officials in the district McGuire represents in the state Senate.

A group of 24 Virginia GOP leaders led by Rick Buchanan, chair of the 5th District Republican Congressional Committee, have “strongly urged” Trump to reconsider his backing of McGuire over Good.

McGuire countered that some of those Good endorsements are retribution from state officials he hadn’t supported during their own contested races.

“I have focused more on getting the people to endorse me,” McGuire said in a Saturday interview. “Like Trump — he goes for the common man.”

The list of recriminations between the two Republican campaigns gets longer still: Good supporters ding McGuire for declining to debate and accuse him of being a ladder-climber who jumped quickly from his state Senate seat to challenging Good.

McGuire, who ran for a House seat in 2020 against Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.) before dropping out, said he was encouraged to take on Good while on the campaign trail for state Senate.

“The whole time I’m campaigning, people are like this,” McGuire said, pulling on his own shirt sleeve for effect. “‘I know you are running for state Senate, but you are the only guy who [can] beat that guy. He’s a tyrant. He’s really mean.”

The race for the south central Virginia district has drawn a whopping $14.5 million in ad spending, mostly from super PACs. That includes some tied to allies of McCarthy, who went after Good as part of a nationwide vengeance push against the fellow Republicans who voted to end his speakership.

Good’s allies have spent roughly $5.4 million, while pro-McGuire forces have spent $7.5 million, according to data from the media tracking firm AdImpact. McGuire’s campaign has spent nearly $1.5 million on ads, while Good has spent only a few thousand dollars on radio spots.

McGuire has tried to leverage his big advantage on TV to stress his Trump endorsement in a district that the former president won by more than 8 points in 2020. It is also mentioned often on his campaign materials, including T-shirts and signs.

And while Good is trying to portray the race as the establishment “swamp” attacking a conservative who fought it, he’s also avoided acknowledging his own role in his current predicament — specifically, his repeated willingness to do the exact sort of Republican-versus-Republican campaigning that he’s criticizing his own colleagues for.

Good has also sought to portray any attacks on him as attacks on the Freedom Caucus and its policies.

Members like Timmons disagree. To them, it’s personal.

“It is not because I don’t agree with Bob Good on policies,” Timmons said last week, ahead of his door-knocking trip to Good’s district. “It is because of his tactics. Such a critical part of this job is earning your colleagues’ respect and their trust. And he is a bad advocate because of his tactics, not because of his policies.”

Ally Mutnick contributed to this report.

SEATTLE — Former Rep. George Nethercutt, who was a Spokane lawyer with little political experience when he ousted Democratic Speaker of the House Tom Foley as part of a stunning GOP wave that shifted national politics to the right in 1994, has died. He was 79.

Nethercutt died Friday near Denver of progressive supranuclear palsy, a rare, neurodegenerative brain disease, his son said in an email Monday.

“He lived a life based in faith, family, community, and service, never sacrificing his principles as a statesman,” Elliott Nethercutt wrote.

The 1994 midterm elections, which came halfway through President Bill Clinton’s first term, were a resounding victory for Republicans, who won control of both houses of Congress for the first time since the early 1950s.

Nethercutt was the chairman of the Spokane County Republican Party and had served in the 1970s as chief of staff to Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens but had not run for office before challenging Foley.

Foley had represented the district for 30 years — the last five as speaker of the House. Nethercutt’s campaign ads focused on Foley’s opposition to term limits and pointed out that Foley had been in office since “Bonanza” was the top show on television.

Foley was the first speaker to lose a reelection bid since 1860.

Nethercutt joined other 1994 GOP candidates in signing the Contract With America, a list of conservative priorities promoted by Rep. Newt Gingrich and others. Among those priorities was adopting term limits; Nethercutt said he’d serve no more than three terms but broke that promise and served five before he gave up the seat to make an unsuccessful run against Democratic Sen. Patty Murray in 2004.

“George Nethercutt was a giant amongst men who served the people of Eastern Washington with honor and patriotism for a decade,” Republican Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, who now holds Nethercutt’s former seat, said in a Facebook post. “George was a man of character who led with kindness and conviction, and he was a person I proudly looked up to long before the day I was sworn in to represent the Fifth District we shared such a love for.”

Among his priorities in office were finding new international markets for farm products from eastern Washington, securing federal money for Fairchild Air Force Base, and supporting research grants to Washington State University.

Like many other Republicans elected in the 1994 wave, he had a conservative voting record and supported impeaching Clinton for lying about his affair with Monica Lewinsky.

He became a lobbyist following his tenure in Congress and worked with his George Nethercutt Foundation, which advanced civics education through scholarships, competitions and educational trips to Washington.

Nethercutt attended memorial services for Foley when he died in 2013, and two years ago, he joined the advisory board of Washington State University’s Thomas S. Foley Institute for Public Policy and Public Service.

He also established a fund at the university to create the George Nethercutt Endowed Lecture Series on Civic Engagement.

“Since 2008, my foundation has promoted civic education among students, so they are prepared to engage with our democratic system — a system that depends on the participation of informed citizens, open dialogue, and compromise to function properly,” Nethercutt said at the time.

Nethercutt was born in Spokane in 1944 and graduated from Washington State University before graduating from Gonzaga University School of Law in 1971. As a law school student, he briefly clerked for Foley’s father, Ralph Foley, who was a Spokane County Superior Court judge.

Nethercutt is survived by his wife, Mary Beth Nethercutt, whom he married in 1977; two children, Meredith Nethercutt Krisher and Elliott Nethercutt; sister Nancy Nethercutt Gustafson; brother John Irving Nethercutt; and granddaughter Holly Beth Krisher.

A member of the House Freedom Caucus is taking an unprecedented step to endorse the primary challenger fighting to unseat the ultra conservative group’s chair.

Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio) is endorsing John McGuire, a state senator who is in a highly watched race against Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.), McGuire’s campaign first shared with POLITICO.

“I love this country with a soldier’s passion. I’ve served in Congress since 2016, and we need reinforcements to help Make America Great Again. I’m happy to join President Trump by supporting and endorsing John McGuire for Congress,” Davidson said in a statement, describing McGuire as conservative, effective and someone who will drain the swamp.

He added: “I look forward to serving with him in the 119th Congress to support President Trump and the America First agenda. Drain the swamp!”

Davidson’s decision is sure to send shock waves across the House GOP. But even more, his decision to back McGuire will be seen as a grand betrayal by the right-wing group that is meticulous about appearing united publicly, even amid internal divisions.

When asked this week if it would be embarrassing for the Freedom Caucus if Good lost his race, Davidson told POLITICO: “I’m sure he would be embarrassed that he lost.”

The race for Virginia’s 5th Congressional District has attracted national attention, with former President Donald Trump backing McGuire over Good — who had initially endorsed Gov. Ron DeSantis before switching to Trump when the Florida governor dropped out of the presidential primary contest. But that wasn’t enough for Trump, who has attacked Good as being bad for Virginia and a backstabber.

Good, meanwhile, argues that his critics have lied to the ex-president about his record and turned Trump against him.

As GOP colleagues within Good’s own party have stacked up against him, including some he personally tried to unseat, the Virginia rabble-rouser has heavily leaned on members of the Freedom Caucus to show their support in his race.

On Friday, three Freedom Caucus members — Reps. Chip Roy (R-Texas), Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.) and Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) — joined Good for a campaign event in Louisa County, Virginia, where almost all touted their membership in the group.

“My question to members of the Republican Congress who aren’t in the Freedom Caucus is why?” Roy said to the crowd.

There were signs Davidson didn’t agree with Good’s leadership as the Freedom Caucus board voted to name Good as their next chair last December.

During that time, Davidson sent a letter to the group’s board informing them he intended to step down from his spot on the leadership team as he also announced his opposition to Good’s campaign for the top spot.

“I ask that we consider how to best increase our influence while preserving our power to move policy in the right direction. I strongly feel that Bob Good as Chairman will impair that objective,” Davidson wrote in the letter.

While Good was among one of the eight members who voted to remove former Speaker Kevin McCarthy from the gavel, Davidson was one of the members who spoke in favor of McCarthy during his January speakership fight.

And when it comes to Trump, allies of Good also argue there have been times in the past when Trump has attacked the Freedom Caucus over policy disagreement, but that Trump has come to see the group’s members as his biggest defenders. Still, Trump has never been so personal as to actively campaign against one of its members — let alone its leader.

Trump is slated to participate in a tele-town hall for McGuire on Monday night, POLITICO first reported.