A Virginia House Candidate Campaigns By Attacking ‘A Man Dressed as a Woman’

“The G.O.P. is likely hoping that Good can win without outside intervention, but Webb’s resource advantage and the currently poor G.O.P. environment nationally, if it persists, may force their hand,” said Kyle Kondik, managing editor of Sabato’s Crystal Ball, a political newsletter at the University of Virginia, which still regards the district as Republican-leaning. Mr. Kondik said the key to a victory for Mr. Webb would be high Black turnout in southern parts of the district, which stretches from the outer Washington, D.C., suburbs to the North Carolina line.

One poll suggested that Mr. Webb was only two points behind Mr. Good in the district, where divisions over L.G.B.T.Q. rights have permeated recent politics. “We’re in the middle of a pandemic that has infected over 100,000 Virginians and a recession that has put millions across the country out of work, but all Bob Good wants to focus on is same-sex marriages,” said Grant Fox, a spokesman for the Virginia Democratic Party. “Virginians need help, and Bob Good is spending his time convening church officials to figure out how to best discriminate against the L.G.B.T.Q. community.”

Mr. Witt and Mr. Good’s campaign did not return telephone calls seeking comment.

Mr. Good, a former athletics fund-raiser at Liberty University, entered the congressional race after Mr. Riggleman officiated at the same-sex wedding of two campaign volunteers last summer, angering local conservatives.

Mr. Riggleman, who had won election with only 53 percent of the vote in 2018, lost his party’s nomination for re-election during a convention held in Campbell County, where Mr. Good serves as a county supervisor.

“I have a biblical view of marriage, very different from the congressman’s view on that,” Mr. Good said in February, referring to Mr. Riggleman. He also posted a letter from supporters on his website that said, “Homosexuality is a very complex subject that medical science has confirmed is psychological moreso than genetic.”

When Mr. Good was elected to the Campbell County Board of Supervisors in 2015, he signed a resolution declaring the U.S. Supreme Court “lawless” for legalizing same-sex marriage nationally. He also voted for a county resolution urging that the state and federal governments “not recognize gender identity as a protected class” and allow Campbell County to bar transgender people from public restrooms.

In addition to anti-L.G.B.T.Q. statements, Mr. Good has taken policy positions against immigration and in favor of making English the nation’s official language. Mr. Good also failed to disavow comments made by a key supporter, Eddie Deane, that surfaced on social media this year.