HEBRON, Ky. — Kentucky U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie lost his Republican House primary Tuesday, becoming the latest Republican lawmaker to anger President Donald Trump and then fall to a primary challenger backed by the president.
Trump handpicked and endorsed Ed Gallrein, whose victory demonstrated the president's influence over GOP voters and growing frustration with Massie's opposition to Trump. In recent weeks several other Republicans have been defeated by Trump-endorsed challengers, including Sen. Bill Cassidy in Louisiana and several Indiana state senators who defied him on redistricting.
Massie, who has served in Congress since 2012, was one of the most outspoken holdouts. He pushed for the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files, criticized the war in Iran and voted against the president's signature tax legislation last year. Still, he tried to convince voters that they could be for both him and Trump.
The race was the most expensive U.S. House primary in history.
After losing, Massie took the stage before a fired-up crowd that cheered and chanted, including slogans such as “no more wars” and “America First!”
“We stirred up something. There is a yearning in this country for someone who will vote for principles over party,” Massie said in his speech, which lasted over 20 minutes.
He also criticized unwavering fealty to Trump in Congress: “If the legislative branch always votes whichever way the wind is blowing, then we have mob rule,” he said. But if lawmakers follow the Constitution, “we have a republic.”
Massie signed off by teasing a run in 2028, saying, “we'll talk about it later.”
Gallrein delivered a shorter, more muted speech at his victory party in Covington, where he first thanked Trump, who visited Kentucky in March to give Gallrein a boost.
Gallrein, a former Navy SEAL, ran on his military service and loyalty to the president and accused Massie of forsaking Trump and the party. He is favored to win the general election against Democrat Melissa Strange in the deeply red district.
Speaking with reporters after Massie’s defeat, Trump said: “He was a bad guy. He deserves to lose.” And White House communications director Steven Cheung said via social media: “Do not ever doubt President Trump and his political power.”
The primary turned white hot in the final stretch of the campaign as Massie recruited a phalanx of other Republicans, including Rep. Lauren Boebert, in an attempt to show voters that a vote for him was not a vote against Trump. The president, in turn, ratcheted up his social media attacks, calling Massie "an obstructionist and a fool." On Monday, Gallrein shared a stage with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
Also Tuesday, Republicans statewide chose U.S. Rep. Andy Barr as their nominee to replace Mitch McConnell, the longtime U.S. Senate leader. In a contest representing a generational changing of the guard for the party, Barr, who was endorsed by Trump, bested Daniel Cameron, a former state attorney general who leaned into his Christianity on the campaign trail.
Some voters were fed up with Massie
Massie's challenge was to win over voters who generally think favorably of Trump, the same man telling them to vote for Gallrein. Gallrein embraced the role Trump gave him and focused his pitch to voters on his personal history and unwavering loyalty to the president.
Capitalizing on voters fed up with Massie bucking the party appears to have worked. Kim Dees, who attended Gallrein's event, said he was “ecstatic,” calling the candidate “very authentic” and “a man of honor.”
Massie noted that he voted with his party the vast majority of the time. As for the remainder, he said those were on proposals that violated his “America First” principles such as adding to the national debt and getting into military entanglements like the war with Iran.
That's what Jeanine Thomas, from Union, who attended the congressman's party, appreciated about Massie.
“He and Trump had the same campaign promises, and he stuck with them,” Thomas said. “He was courageous enough to not toe the line when it was going against what he had promised his constituents that he would do, and unfortunately he was punished for it.”
Massie has voted against U.S. aid to Israel and faced accusations of antisemitism. Denying those accusations, he repeatedly argued that he is generally against all foreign aid. But the race drew in millions of dollars against him from pro-Israel interest groups, including from the Republican Jewish Coalition Victory Fund.
That became a stump topic for Massie, and he alluded to it in his concession speech.
“I would have come out sooner, but I had to call my opponent and concede and it took a while to find Ed Gallrein in Tel Aviv,” Massie told the crowd.
Trump's ire in recent days turned to Republicans backing Massie. After Boebert posted her support for the incumbent, Trump posted on Truth Social asking for a Republican to challenge her — even though the filing deadline in her home state of Colorado has already passed.
“Anybody that dumb deserves a good Primary fight!” Trump said.
Trump also influenced the Senate primary
The president swayed the race not just through his endorsement but by offering a third challenger, Nate Morris, an ambassadorship just over two weeks before Election Day. Morris, who fashioned himself as the MAGA candidate, withdrew from the race and encouraged his backers to support Barr.
Barr was first elected in 2012 in the 6th Congressional District. He too is favored to win the general election in the Republican-dominated state, against Democrat Charles Booker.
In his victory speech, Barr thanked his primary opponents, Trump and McConnell “for his decades of service to our commonwealth and this country.”
During the campaign both Barr and Cameron tiptoed around their relationship with McConnell, whom they previously called a mentor.
McConnell criticized Trump over the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol and more recently voted against some of his Cabinet picks. He is stepping down after becoming the longest serving Senate leader in American history, coinciding with a transformation of the party under Trump.
Many Republicans, while admiring McConnell's achievements, see him as out of step with the “Make America Great Again” and “America First” movements spawned by Trump. Both Barr and Cameron took note, and while ingratiating themselves to the president, they put some distance between themselves and the senator.
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Bedayn reported from Austin, Texas.
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