Marjorie Taylor Greene, John McGuire shouted down by protesters, cut short Albemarle County campaign rally (2024)

U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s visit to Albemarle County started late and ended early Wednesday afternoon, after loud chants from protesters overwhelmed her megaphone and cut short her campaign rally for fellow Republican John McGuire.

The Georgia congresswoman dropped into Virginia's 5th Congressional District Wednesday, where McGuire, a state senator, is challenging incumbent Rep. Bob Good in the upcoming GOP primary. While the 5th is a deep-red district in the heart of Virginia, Albemarle County is a longtime Democratic stronghold — and that much was clear Wednesday.

Greene and McGuire arrived at a polling station at the Albemarle County Social Services building Wednesday in a bus emblazoned with the name and likeness of former President Donald Trump, who recently endorsed McGuire over Good. That endorsem*nt came two days before Trump became the first former president to be convicted of a felony for using hush money payments to influence his 2016 election.

In Albemarle County, McGuire and Greene found a group of roughly 50 protesters waiting for them, greeting them with chants of "Go home" and "No hate in our state."

The protesters, who had arrived well before the bus pulled in around 4:20 p.m. Wednesday, easily outnumbered the 20 or so McGuire supporters who stood on the other side of the parking lot, with about a dozen Albemarle County police officers on the property to keep the peace.

Greene and McGuire spent several minutes in the parked bus as protesters held signs and booed outside. As McGuire supporters moved closer to the campaign bus in order to offer the Republican visitors a warmer welcome, the two groups came into contact, exchanging verbal barbs as they waited for Greene and McGuire to disembark.

“Are you having fun?” one protester yelled toward the bus. “You didn’t have to come here. You could have gone somewhere else.”

Albemarle County, which surrounds the city of Charlottesville and the University of Virginia, is one of the more reliably blue districts in the commonwealth, which makes it hostile territory for most Republican candidates. That's especially true of those with ties to Trump.

Despite his ultra-conservative bona fides and his position at the top of the hard-right House Freedom Caucus, McGuire and Greene regularly accuse Good of disloyalty to Trump. Their accusations largely stem from Good's early decision to endorse Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in the Republican presidential primary over Trump.

Good has countered them by saying McGuire is a liar with unchecked ambition, pointing out that before he won his seat in the state Senate last year he had promised not to run for higher office. McGuire has also refused to debate his Republican opponent to date. And while McGuire’s social media is plastered with images of him on the campaign trail meeting voters, Good claims McGuire is incapable of hosting large events.

“My opponent cannot and does not have events across the district. He can’t bring those who are supporting him to the district to campaign for him,” Good recently said at an Albemarle County coffee shop at an event where he was joined by more than 100 supporters.

There was a smaller contingent of McGuire supporters eager to hear from him and Greene Wednesday afternoon, but they left disappointed after both were drowned out by the crowd of protesters.

Just after 4:30 p.m., Greene and McGuire exited their bus and walked across a patch of grass on their way to a corner of the parking lot, circumventing the protesters. But the crowd followed them, and Greene was the first to enter the parking lot to a mix of cheers and jeers.

“Love you, girl,” yelled one supporter.

“F--k the fascists,” yelled a protester.

McGuire was steps behind her, a small American flag in his front shirt pocket. Greene carried a blue megaphone adorned with a Gov. Glenn Youngkin campaign sticker.

Both took photos with supporters, but Greene’s attempts to start chants of “USA” and “Trump” were to no avail; the protesters' voices easily overwhelmed her megaphone.

Police formed a semicircle around the politicians and their supporters, serving as a buffer between Republicans and Democrats.

“A real Charlottesville welcome, bitch,” one protester yelled at Greene.

In announcing her visit, Greene had said the trip was meant to promote early voting— ironic, given she has decried it in the past when endorsing the unfounded conspiracy theory that the 2020 presidential election was rigged and Trump did not lose the race to Democrat Joe Biden.

Neither Greene nor McGuire made any serious attempt to give remarks as planned, as it quickly became clear that their critics would make it impossible for them to be heard.

They walked back to the bus less than five minutes after entering the parking lot.

McGuire declined to take questions from The Daily Progress or any other media.

It remains unclear why two such die-hard conservatives and Trump loyalists would campaign in such a Democratic county where nearly 66% of the vote went to Biden in 2020.

But the heckling may have been the point, speculated Kyle Kondik, director of communications at UVa's Center for Politics.

“You almost wonder if that’s the reaction they wanted to get because that maybe makes news,” Kondik told The Daily Progress. “The whole point of those things is to get coverage.”

That’s how the McGuire campaign portrayed it on social media. Shortly after the spectacle, McGuire took to Facebook where he posted an image of the scene and said he and Greene had "walked into the belly of the beast.”

“Deranged leftists hell bent on destroying this country. Just like President Trump, we won’t be afraid to stand up to the radical left. This is why we need to get rid of Bob Good. We can’t afford backstabbers when the USA is at stake,” the post reads.

McGuire and Greene were not originally scheduled to appear in Albemarle County. Instead, the pair first said they would be rallying at Charlottesville City Hall, where they undoubtedly would have faced even more pushback given the city leans even more to the left than the surrounding county. The location was changed to the county polling station Monday evening after The Daily Progress reached out to Charlottesville city officials who said they had not been informed of the campaign stop.

Nelson County resident Kerry Williams Thornton, who was in attendance Wednesday, managed to get a photo with both McGuire and Greene, but said she was disappointed she didn’t get to hear them give remarks.

“This is my first time going to a campaign rally, and I think the stupidity on the other side is ridiculous. They talk about ‘No hate’ and ‘Go back home.’ What the hell is that? That’s hate,” Thornton told The Daily Progress. “Let the people talk. They couldn’t even talk.”

Earlier in the afternoon, Greene and McGuire visited Louisa County where the reception was different. Although there were some Good supporters in the crowd, the pair didn't meet nearly as much resistance and were able to talk and mingle with those in attendance.

McGuire campaign manager Teemu Garrity was happy with the number of Republicans that turned out in blue Albemarle County, and said many of them voted early.

“We got a fair amount of Republicans out for the Albemarle area. Usually they don’t show up,” Garrity told The Daily Progress. “I wish it would have been civil enough from the protesters to let us speak.”

The crowd of protesters cheered as Greene and McGuire departed Albemarle County Wednesday, declaring it a small victory for American democracy.

“Trump’s party looks to crush democracy,” read one of their many signs.

“Make Authoritarianism Go Away,” read another.

Greene and McGuire will continue their campaign tour on Thursday when they visit Powhatan and Goochland counties.

The Republican primary in Virginia is on June 18.