HEBRON, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie lost his Republican House primary Tuesday in another test of President Donald Trump’s power over his party after he handpicked challenger and ultimate winner Ed Gallrein to oust the incumbent.
The result showed the president’s persisting influence over GOP voters and added to a growing number of Trump-backed primary challengers to defeat Republican lawmakers who angered him in his second term, including Sen. Bill Cassidy in Louisiana and several Indiana state senators who defied him on redistricting.
Massie, who has served in Congress since 2012, is one of the last and 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.
In the evening, after the primary result was known, Massie took the stage before a fired-up crowd that cheered and chanted throughout his speech, 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.
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.
Gallrein delivered a shorter, more muted speech at his victory party in Covington, where he first thanked Trump for his support and leadership.
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 expected to win the general election against Democrat Melissa Strange in the deeply red district.
The president visited Kentucky to boost Gallrein in March.
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 they could support both him and Trump. Trump ratcheted up his social media attacks on Massie, calling him “an obstructionist and a fool,” and Gallrein shared a stage with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Monday.
The race was the most expensive U.S. House primary in history.
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.
Massie's challenge
Massie's challenge was to win over voters who generally think favorably of Trump, the same man telling them to vote for Gallrein. It was not the first Republican primary Trump has tried to sway, but Massie's overt rebelliousness has been a particular challenge to the president.
Gallrein embraced the role Trump gave him and focused his pitch to voters on his personal history and unwavering loyalty to the president.
Some voters were fed up with Massie bucking the party.
George Scherzer, who lives in the small town of Crestwood, supported Massie in past elections but did not like his lack of support for some of the president’s agenda, including last year’s tax and spending bill, known as the One Big Beautiful Bill.
“Some of his votes just did not make sense to me,” Scherzer said.
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.
Massie has voted against U.S. aid to Israel and faced accusations of antisemitism. He has denied the charges, arguing 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, who said the attempt to oust him was to send a warning to other lawmakers who oppose the president or aid to Israel.
In a last-minute pitch to Kentucky Republicans, Boebert posted photos of her with Massie and with Trump on the social platform X, saying, “I support both of these men.” Replying to that, Massie said: “she likes both Trump and me! Yes it’s possible!!”
Trump lashed out at Boebert on his Truth Social platform, 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!” he wrote.
Trump also influenced 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. As with Gallrein, he is expected to win the general election in the Republican-dominated state.
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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