Massie Loses Primary for Another Term in Congress Following Months of Battling With Trump

Congressman Thomas Massie, the libertarian-aligned lawmaker from Kentucky, will not serve another term in Congress after losing his Republican primary on Tuesday. President Trump campaigned hard to unseat Mr. Massie following a series of high-profile breaks between the two men. Less than two hours after polls closed on Tuesday evening, the Associated Press declared Navy SEAL and farmer Ed Gallrein the winner. Mr. Gallrein benefited immensely from tens of millions of dollars in outside spending from the president’s political allies who wanted to deny Mr. Massie another term in the House. As of Wednesday morning, it appears Mr. Gallrein will end up winning the primary by about 10 points. The White House’s message following Mr. Massie’s defeat on Tuesday was a simple one: “F— around, find out,” White House communications director Steven Cheung wrote on X. Mr. Trump endorsed Mr. Gallrein last year after he went hunting for a candidate who could unify the president’s own base of supporters against Mr. Massie. For months, the district — which covers northeastern Kentucky — has been bombarded with television ads highlighting Mr. Massie’s disagreements with Mr. Trump. The acrimony between Messrs. Trump and Massie began in 2020 when Mr. Massie sought to block a $2 trillion pandemic-era stimulus bill. At the time, Mr. Trump called for Mr. Massie to be kicked out of the GOP, though he declined to endorse a primary challenger against Mr. Massie that year. Mr. Trump later endorsed Mr. Massie for another term in 2022 and did not actively oppose him for re-election in 2024. The president trained his eye on Mr. Massie early last year when the Kentucky libertarian began raising concerns about how Mr. Trump’s domestic agenda would increase the size of the budget deficit. The relationship soured even further when Mr. Massie became the lead Republican on the legislative effort to force the Justice Department to release the totality of the Epstein files. Another supporter of that measure, Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, claims that Mr. Trump asked her to stop supporting Mr. Massie’s bill because the files would hurt his friends. In a Truth Social post on Sunday, Mr. Trump reminded Mr. Massie’s constituents to get out and vote against “the worst and most unreliable Republican Congressman in the history of our Country.” “Kentucky, get this LOSER out of politics in Tuesday’s Election. He is nicknamed Rand Paul Jr., another real ‘beauty,’ because of his absolutely terrible voting habits,” Mr. Trump wrote. It almost certain that Mr. Massie’s biggest supporters will point to a torrent in outside spending as the reason he lost. The race for the Republican nomination in the Fourth District is now the most expensive in American history, with more than $32 million having been spent by both sides. Some of Mr. Trump’s most prolific donors got behind the effort to unseat Mr. Massie even before Mr. Trump had tapped Mr. Gallrein to run against the congressman. Miriam Adelson, the casino magnate who is Israeli-American, donated $750,000 through an affiliated political action committee to try to unseat Mr. Massie, leading many of Mr. Massie’s allies to complain that the “Israel lobby” was trying to buy his seat. Billionaires Paul Singer and John Paulson — two Americans who are strong supporters of Israel — also donated to a political action committee, MAGA KY, that was set up to defeat Mr. Massie. Mr. Singer donated $1 million while Mr. Paulson donated $250,000. After he had officially been declared the loser of the primary race, Mr. Massie took the stage with a smile on his face, taking photos of the crowd. He then cracked a joke about the pro-Israel groups that had gotten involved in his race. “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,” Mr. Massie said.

Massie Loses Primary for Another Term in Congress Following Months of Battling With Trump

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