Rep. Bob Good, R-Campbell County, was kicked out of a new Trump store in Farmville last weekend after crashing an event which the owner said she hosted for his primary opponent, state Sen. John McGuire, R-Goochland. The incident prompted one of Good’s staffers to call the police over concerns for the congressman’s safety.
“After being told the night before that he was not welcome, Bob showed up uninvited, and attempted to make the day about himself, instead of President Trump,” said Karen Angulo, the former Appomattox County GOP chair and the store’s proprietor, in a statement released by McGuire’s campaign.
“I repeatedly asked Bob to leave. Once he finally relented and left our store, Bob and his paid campaign staff stood out front for over four hours trying to block people from entering our store. The whole thing was very embarrassing behavior for anyone, let alone a sitting member of Congress.”
Angulo told Cardinal News on Wednesday that she rents the space at Shoppes at College Park, a shopping mall on South Main Street, as a “MAGA community center for genuine Trump supporters” and plans to allow others to use the store for events.
Angulo said that McGuire, a staunch supporter of former President Donald Trump and a former state delegate who announced his bid for the GOP nomination in Virginia’s 5th Congressional District shortly after being elected to the state Senate in November, had reached out to her about hosting his event on the day of her grand opening.
On Friday afternoon, the day before the event, McGuire’s campaign sent out a text message and email encouraging local Republicans to attend. “Please come support President Trump this Saturday! Free Pizza and Snacks!”, the message said, adding that McGuire would be “stopping by for a visit from 12 p.m. until 1:30 p.m.” Angulo said that the food and beverages were provided by McGuire.
When Good received the message — which Good’s campaign believes to have been forwarded from the local GOP committee — he and his team decided to push out their own alert about the store’s opening in the early evening on Friday, stating that the congressman would be in attendance from 11 a.m. to noon, and from 2 to 3 p.m.
“The intention was to avoid the time that was listed for when Senator McGuire would be there,” said Diana Shores, the spokeswoman for Good’s campaign.
In a statement released Wednesday, McGuire said that Good is proving that he is only in office to serve his own political ambitions, “and people are clearly sick of it.”
Good and McGuire are engaged in a viciously fought primary battle for their party’s nomination, during which McGuire has repeatedly accused the incumbent of “hating Trump,” being a “Never-Trumper” and a “RINO,” a derogatory moniker for “Republican In Name Only,” who is working to help Democrats.
Good, who is seeking a third term in Congress, had endorsed Ron DeSantis as the GOP’s presidential nominee last May, but immediately pivoted to supporting Trump when the Florida governor abruptly ended his campaign in January.
But for Good, the Trump endorsement may have come too late in a district that the former president won with 53% in both 2016 and 2020. Just days before the Republican from Campbell County flipped his endorsement, Chris LaCivita, a senior Trump adviser who was recently tapped as campaign manager, put the congressman on notice. “Bob Good won’t be electable when we get done with him,” LaCivita said in a text message.
David Richards, a political analyst and chair of the political science program at the University of Lynchburg, said that the fallout over Saturday’s incident may have done some additional damage to Good’s reputation in the 5th District.
“Before yesterday I would have said Bob Good was fireproof,” Richards said. “He is a far-right politician in a solid red district, he has the credentials, like chairing the Freedom Caucus in the House. But now I wouldn’t bet any rent money on Bob Good. I still think he will win the primary easily, but clearly there are people in the district who are not happy with him.”
Angulo said in the interview Wednesday that after receiving Good’s invitation to her Trump store opening, a friend of hers called the congressman to let him know that he wasn’t welcome at the event. “He wasn’t invited, but he showed up the next day anyway. He came in with two men, one had a camera already on. I don’t know what he was trying to do.”
According to Shores, Good’s spokeswoman, the congressman arrived at the store at 11 a.m. Saturday. “He entered the store, intending to greet other Republicans and Trump supporters, and to shop for some Trump merchandise. He was confronted immediately by then-Appomattox GOP Chair Karen Angulo,” Shores said.
The men accompanying Good were campaign volunteers, she added.
A video filmed by one of the men that has been circulating on social media shows Angulo asking Good to leave. “You don’t have an invitation to hijack the store and interrupt another event that is scheduled here,” she said. “So I’m asking you all to leave. I have rented this store, this is my store. You never asked, so y’all must leave.”
Good can be seen pointing at his cellphone, showing Angulo the invitation that he’d received the previous day, and then reading from it: “Please come and support President Trump.”
Angulo then told Good that by sending out his own alert, he’d made it seem as though the store opening was his event. “You put President Trump’s image on your text, and you said that everyone was invited, and sent it out to your big list, and then you actually wanted some donations for it,” she said. “You all are trespassing.”
Good then quietly asked if he wasn’t welcome at the Trump store.
“Not at this point, not when you pulled these types of shenanigans,” Angulo said. “You’re trying to hijack my store without my permission to do your campaigning. You’re trying to interrupt another event for your political opponent. At this point I’m asking you to leave. This is not a public space, this is private property.”
The video also shows McGuire, sporting a white Make America Great Again hat, talking to some of his staff and supporters in the background, along with Buckingham County GOP Chair Ramona Christian. After a back-and-forth with Angulo lasting less than three minutes, Good can be seen leaving the store without ever speaking to his primary opponent.
“It was clear to Congressman Good that this was a McGuire campaign event, masquerading as a Trump store event, for the purpose of getting folks there to sign Mr. McGuire’s petitions,” Shores said in a text message.
Shores said that several patrons visiting the store were “thrown out after being seen talking to the congressman,” but Angulo denies this. “We had a few of his supporters come in and look over the shop, but we didn’t kick them out. The only people we asked to leave were Bob Good and his two men that were with him.”
Once he left the store, Good stayed outside on the public sidewalk, greeting patrons and passers-by. But at 11:45 a.m., Shores called 911 to report “some belligerent people out here getting into the Congressman’s personal space, four young men,” according to a recording of the call provided to Cardinal News by an area GOP activist.
Capt. Bill Hogan with the Farmville Police Department confirmed Wednesday that earlier on Saturday, at around 10 a.m., a Good staffer had requested police presence during the time of the event.
“They didn’t ask for an officer to stay there, but to keep an eye on things,” Hogan said, adding that requests for extra patrols during larger events aren’t unusual.
After Shores placed the 911 call, an officer had just driven through the parking lot in front of the store, Hogan said. “When they turned around and came back, they talked to the person who had made the call, but the individuals she complained about had already left.”
Shores said Wednesday that Good’s staff followed “normal security protocols by alerting police prior to his attendance that the congressman would be at the event, outside talking to voters.” Both sides agree that Good left the shopping mall at around 3 p.m., after spending four hours there.
“My second-term congressman is in the parking lot for over four hours. How is that good optics?” Angulo said. “I’m very puzzled.”