EXCLUSIVE: Massie Says GOP Risks Losing America First Base If Primary Challenge Succeeds
Kentucky Republican Rep. Thomas Massie says the GOP could lose its “America First” base if its primary challenger, backed by Trump, succeeds in ousting him from Congress.
In an exclusive interview with the Daily Caller on Monday, Massie warned that if he lost, the party’s metaphorical “tent” would shrink dangerously if his GOP challenger, former Navy SEAL Ed Gallrein, won the primary.
In an effort to maximize his available cash ahead of the primary, Massie hosted a live virtual fundraiser Monday night.
The independent-minded MP’s ‘Money Bomb’ fundraising campaign raised $351,318 in the first 24 hours. (RELATED: ‘This Isn’t What We Thought MAGA Was Supposed To Be’: America’s First Skeptics Speak Out Against Iran Strikes)
Massie, who represents Kentucky’s 4th Congressional District, energized his supporters during the more than three-hour event in an effort to drum up grassroots support for his campaign.
Massie told the caller it was “one of the most exciting days of the campaign.”
You did it! We hit $350,000 for our money bomb!
The FEC deadline for first quarter donations is tonight at midnight, so we’ll leave https://t.co/plsUSCpFg0 until then in case you missed it yesterday…or want to donate again!
Ps. Here is my new MAHA-PRIME Act video! pic.twitter.com/82bP2JQnx4
– Thomas Massie for Congress (@MassieforKY) March 31, 2026
“My expectations were $100,000, and I thought my high expectations were $200,000, and we exceeded that,” Massie told the caller. “I mean…our best single-day donation record was $160,000 a year ago – actually, when Donald Trump first violently attacked me.”
The live stream featured guests such as former Texas Republican Rep. Ron Paul and his son, Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul, former Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and comedian Dave Smith. Massie noted that total donations increased by about $20,000 for each guest.
Massie told the caller that he didn’t necessarily view the fundraiser as evidence of growing anti-establishment sentiment within the Republican Party.(RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: Democratic donors flood Trump-backed Massie Challenger with cash)
“I don’t think it’s libertarian in nature, or even anti-establishment,” he said. “I think a lot of my donors are just Ronald Reagan-type Republicans who want to come to their senses and see Congress work. I get people who donate to me and say, ‘Look, I haven’t agreed with you in the past. I may only agree with you on 70 or 80 percent of what you do, but you’re the only one doing anything right now.'”
Massie described the “Money Bomb” as a return to the constitutional conservative and libertarian wing of the Republican Party and compared it to past fundraising efforts led by Ron Paul and Rand Paul, in which he personally participated.
Just 20 minutes into her conversation with the caller, Massie paused to note that the donation ticker had already reached $275,000.
Massie — who relies on 3,200 microdonors — told the Caller that the success of this first effort demonstrates that the campaign can raise money without relying on a handful of mega-donors.
Stacked programming this evening.@RonPaul, @RandPaul, @mtgreenee, @ThomasEWoods, @ClaytonMorris, @ComicDaveSmith, @scotthortonshow
LIVE FROM 6-9 PM ET. Hosted by @TRHLofficial & @barnes_law
Don’t miss it — https://t.co/r10M5btnhD pic.twitter.com/XaCTiXSb1M
– Thomas Massie for Congress (@MassieforKY) March 30, 2026
“I have colleagues who were stabbing themselves in the back to get a list of 3,200 emails that they could ask for money from. And these are emails, it didn’t cost us anything to get them. People gave them to us because they believe in the campaign. So, down the stretch, I think that gives us some resilience, knowing that we’re not just relying on three or four mega-donors,” he added.
Massie said that unlike a few large “max” donors who can only give once during the primary, the 3,200 microdonors can contribute multiple times. Fewer than 20 donors have maxed out, meaning the vast majority still have the ability to give again before the May 19 primary, providing the campaign with continued fundraising potential.
The Money Bomb website also featured a real-time scorecard showing where each donation came from, as well as a live donation counter and ticker that updates with each new contribution — a feature Massie described as a “real-time thank you letter.”
It’s almost midnight in Kentucky and it’s been an amazing day. If you would like to give for the first time tonight, or if you would like to give again, thank you from the bottom of my heart. I’ll log out and log back in tomorrow morning. Thank you for inspiring me! https://t.co/plsUSCpFg0 pic.twitter.com/iA7y8TpMf4
– Thomas Massie for Congress (@MassieforKY) March 31, 2026
He said he wanted to take the map showing the 3,200 donors to the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC)., House Speaker Mike Johnson and Majority Whip Tom Emmer.
Massie warned that if he loses, the party could endanger not only those donors, but also the votes of their families and extended networks in the midterms.
“Not only have we squandered probably $10 million of Republican mega-donor money on me — money that could have been used to support someone in a marginal district — but you’ve also alienated a large portion of the Republican Party that I’m the only one they identify with in Congress,” Massie said.
Massie also discussed the appeal of his fundraising approach to younger Americans, highlighting how it differs from the typical techniques used with the GOP’s traditional donor class.
“With the younger population in my neighborhood, I’m killing it, because…I think when you’re younger, your BS sniffing works really well. You’re in survival mode and you can tell when older people are lying to you. Then as you get older, you kind of realize that people lie a lot, so you just have to tolerate a few lies here and there, and your BS sniffing subsides,” he told the caller.
He added that he believes he will resonate with young voters because he is “consistent” and they agree with him on many issues. He highlighted his leadership in pushing for the release of Jeffrey Epstein’s files — unlike Johnson, who Massie said committed “political malpractice by being on the wrong side of this issue.” (RELATED: GOP Rift Erupts After 57 Republicans Work With Democrats To Protect ‘Orwellian’ Way To Cut Cars)
The GOP representative also highlighted a surprising demographic in which Republicans have struggled to gain traction: young women. He said he behaved well with this group because of its support of Epstein’s alleged victims.
“Otherwise, they might balk at some of the policy positions I’ve taken, but they’ll prefer the authenticity of someone they agree with 60 to 70 percent of the time rather than someone who lies to them 100 percent of the time,” he said.
He said his long-standing commitment to advocating for issues that now align with the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) agenda has also helped him win the support of young women.
“It’s almost like I’m here with a surfboard on a beach with no water, and then the water appears,” he told the caller.
Thomas Massie says there are only about 30 good Republicans in the House, and the rest are either bad guys or just NPCs.
“There are about 30 people like that… 30 good people from a House Republican conference of 220.”
“They wake up every day and want to do the… pic.twitter.com/CThsJBgFVc
– End Tribalism in Politics (@EndTribalism) March 31, 2026
The caller emphasized what would happen next for Massie if he won the primary.
“I don’t want to say anti-war because that’s not even necessarily anti-war. We can keep people in the party who are just tired of wars and unnecessary interventions: the people of America first,” he told the caller.
“MAGA is fractured. Marjorie [Taylor Greene] left and she took some of it with her, frankly, and I’m still present in the America First parts of the MAGA campaign and the MAHA campaign. And if I win, we can keep these people in the tent and motivate them to vote in November,” he said.
