 Foley said that he and McKinney, his main rival, agreed to forgo any negative campaigning during the primary to avoid weakening the Republicans' general election candidate, and then later accused McKinney of violating that pledge when the campaign took a negative turn.On June 3, 2014, Foley announced that he would accept public financing.On August 12, 2014, Foley won the primary against McKinney by almost 10,000 votes, winning in every county.