CRESTWOOD, Ky. — Republican voters in northern Kentucky were choosing between U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie and challenger Ed Gallrein in Tuesday's House primary, another test of President Donald Trump's power over his party after he handpicked Gallrein to try to oust the incumbent.
The primary turned white hot in the final stretch before polls closed in the 4th District Tuesday evening. 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.
Trump has tightened his grip on the Republican Party in his second term, successfully purging those who deviate from his agenda, but Massie is one of the last and most outspoken holdouts. A Massie defeat would serve as one of the most powerful demonstrations yet of Trump’s influence over Republican voters.
The matchup between the congressman, who has been in office since 2012, and a first-time candidate running on his loyalty to Trump, has been the most expensive U.S. House primary in history.
Massie challenged the president last year to release the Jeffrey Epstein files, which became a political drag for the White House. He also criticized the war in Iran and refused to vote for Trump's signature tax legislation over concerns that it would increase the national debt.
In response Trump visited Kentucky to boost Gallrein in March. The president has had a string of success defeating dissenters in his party, pushing to oust Sen. Bill Cassidy in Louisiana and several Indiana state senators who defied him on redistricting.
The winner of Tuesday's primary is expected to take the general election in the deeply red 4th Congressional District, which stretches along the state's northernmost border.
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.
Can Republican voters support both Trump and Massie?
Massie's challenge was to win over voters who generally think favorably of Trump, the same man telling them to vote for Gallrein. It's not the first Republican primary Trump has tried to sway, but Massie's overt rebelliousness has been a particular challenge to the president.
Gallrein, a retired U.S. Navy SEAL, embraced the role Trump gave him, and focused his pitch to voters on his personal history and unwavering loyalty to the president. Massie, he argued, betrayed Trump and the party.
Hegseth made a visit to the district Monday to boost Gallrein and lambast Massie, a break from tradition that came while the nation is at war. Hegseth said he was speaking “as a private citizen.”
Some voters were already 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 argued that voters did not have to choose between Trump and him, nothing 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 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. 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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