Bob Good -- who filled out NumbersUSA's candidate survey and promised to be a True Reformer on 12 top immigration goals -- has unseated incumbent Republican Congressman Denver Riggleman at the Party's primary convention.
A key issue in Rep. Riggleman's defeat was the charge that he was a close ally of business lobbies in their desire for more foreign workers.
In the Republican nominating convention of the Virginia 5th District, Good won 58% of the delegate votes to Riggleman's 42%.
Riggleman failed to hold on to his seat even though he had a huge money advantage and was backed by Pres. Trump, the conservative House Freedom Caucus and Jerry Falwell Jr., president of Liberty University in the 5th District.
The ungainly-shaped 5th District rambles from the North Carolina border almost to Virginia's northern border with Maryland. It is primarily a rural and small town District but includes the University of Virginia liberal stronghold of Charlottesville.
NOT A CASE OF GOOD vs. BAD, BUT VERY GOOD vs. LACKLUSTER
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Immigration was one of the top issues dividing Good and Riggleman.
Riggleman's nearly two-year record in the House has not been a bad one by the standards of NumbersUSA's Immigration-Reduction Grade Cards. He earned a "B Grade." When offered votes, he cast his against amnesties, against rewards to illegal aliens and against loopholes and fraud in the asylum process.
But Riggleman's support of true reform was rather lackluster. He declined to cosponsor bills to end chain migration, end the visa lottery or end birthright citizenship for legal and illegal foreign visitors. And he had a mixed record in votes on bills to weaken interior enforcement, while failing to cosponsor mandatory E-Verify.
TOO COZY WITH BUSINESS LOBBIES
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It was in the area of specific importation of foreign workers that Riggleman was most exposed to attacks from District Republicans desiring less immigration.
Last year, he publicly praised the Administration's increases in the number of H-2B visas for lower-skilled non-agricultural workers. And he put out problematic quotes bragging that providing more foreign workers to Virginia businesses was his priority "since my first day in Congress."
Riggleman also signed on to the Workforce for an Expanding Economy Act that would have created yet another guest worker program, this one to import workers for construction, hospital and hotel jobs. And he voted for the Fairness for High Skilled Immigrants Act which the technology corporations have pushed hard to enable them to import almost exclusively from India.
WINNER EMPHASIZED IMMIGRATION FROM THE START
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For 14 years, Bob Good has been a member of the senior staff of the athletic department of Liberty University, located in Lynchburg in the southern part of the District. Although the national media thus far have pressed the story line that Good defeated Riggleman on social issues, the two candidates had very similar positions. When the Liberty University newspaper in February ran a story on Good resigning his job to devote full-time to his candidacy, Good's primary focus was on immigration issues. The newspaper reported:
Good said Riggleman has betrayed the trust of the conservative Republican base that fills up most of the 5th District population 'with his votes against the border wall in favor of increased immigration... ignoring President Trump's policy on American jobs for American workers, and even restricting the ability of ICE (in) their jobs, just to name a few.' "
Below please find the Candidate Comparison that we distributed through the 5th District.
ROY BECK is Founder & President of NumbersUSA
