Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy clashed with NBC News hosts on Monday in a contentious interview where he pushed back against a perceived double standard applied to President Trump by Democrats and the media.

McCarthy joined NBC's inaugural coverage shortly after former President Biden issued a series of preemptive pardons for five members of his family on his way out the door.

House Freedom Caucus Chairman Bob Good was adamant Wednesday that he could still eke out a win in his bruising Virginia primary contest against state Sen. John McGuire, despite trailing by more than 300 votes.

After the bulk of the ballots were tallied Tuesday night, McGuire — who scored the coveted endorsement of former President Donald Trump last month — declared victory, telling supporters: “I’m your Republican nominee.”

The political future of House Freedom Caucus Chair Bob Good is coming down to the final votes.

After a bitter primary battle with rival John McGuire in south-central Virginia’s 5th Congressional District, the vote count showed an exceedingly tight result Tuesday night, far closer than many expected. With each update to the results, Good and McGuire traded leads that at times were as low as single digits.

Donald Trump — and establishment Republicans not named Kevin McCarthy — mostly got what they wanted on Tuesday night.

Vince Fong, a former aide to two powerful House leaders, will fill the seat his former bosses once held after he won a special election in California on Tuesday.

Fong, a member of the state Assembly, defeated Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux, a fellow Republican, to fill the 20th District seat. The seat has been vacant since the December resignation of Fong’s onetime boss, former Speaker Kevin McCarthy. 

Fong had 60.5 percent of the vote and Boudreaux 39.5 percent when the Associated Press called the race at 11:17 p.m. Eastern on Tuesday.

A political action committee that helps Republicans get elected to Congress is doing the unusual — spending more than $450,000 to defeat a GOP incumbent. That incumbent, conservative two-term Rep. Bob Good, R-Va., voted to remove former Rep. Kevin McCarthy as House speaker last fall.

It’s just the latest example of how money is flowing into races involving some of the eight Republican lawmakers who voted along with Democrats to oust McCarthy. About $3.3 million has been spent on ads in the Virginia race going into Friday, according to the media tracking firm AdImpact.