Rep. Thomas Massie knew from the start of the 119th Congress that his independent streak could cost him his seat.
But the Kentucky Republican persisted. He voted against the tax cuts and spending increases in President Donald Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill.” He teamed up with a prominent Democrat to push for release of the Epstein files. He opposed the war in Iran.
In response, President Trump was relentless – even in the final hours of voting in Tuesday’s Kentucky primary – in his attacks on the seven-term Mr. Massie and support for the Trump-recruited challenger, farmer, and retired Navy Seal Ed Gallrein. It was the most expensive House primary in recent history, with ad spending topping $32 million.
Why We Wrote This
As an outspoken critic of President Trump, Thomas Massie faced a closely watched primary contest – and has lost his seat to Trump-backed challenger Ed Gallrein. It’s the latest in a string of election results showing the president’s hold on the Republican Party.
On Tuesday, Mr. Massie lost the GOP primary in Kentucky’s 4th Congressional District by 10 percentage points – the latest Trump victory in a purge of dissenting voices within his own party. Mr. Gallrein’s win consolidates Mr. Trump’s iron grip on the Republican Party.
In his victory speech, Mr. Gallrein heaped praise on the president.
“I want to thank President Trump for his support, his endorsement, and his counsel as I navigated this campaign, which is a journey unto itself, and for his courageous leadership of our nation at this critical time,” Mr. Gallrein said.
Describing his potential role in Congress, he underscored the contrast with Mr. Massie, telling The New York Times, “I’m gonna say, ‘Where do you need me, coach?’”
Mr. Massey wasn’t the only outspoken Trump foe to lose on Tuesday.
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who had clashed with Mr. Trump over the 2020 election result, lost the Republican primary for the state’s governorship. That follows the loss last Saturday of yet another Trump target – Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana – who lost his party primary. He’s the first elected senator of either party in 14 years to lose renomination. Senator Cassidy fell afoul of Mr. Trump by voting to convict in the president’s 2021 impeachment trial.
And in Indiana earlier this month, 5 of 7 Republican state legislators lost renomination after bucking Mr. Trump’s plan for redistricting of the state’s congressional map, aimed at boosting GOP representation. Mid-decade redistricting has been key to Republicans’ effort to hold on to their narrow majority in the U.S. House of Representatives.
In Texas, Mr. Trump dropped a bombshell on Tuesday when he endorsed controversial state Attorney General Ken Paxton over four-term Sen. John Cornyn in the GOP primary runoff next week. Senate Republicans are reportedly upset over the Trump endorsement. In their view, it gives the Democratic nominee – State Rep. James Talarico, a young, charismatic seminarian – a chance at winning the seat.
But it’s the House that Republicans are in greater danger of losing. They currently control the chamber by a margin of 217 to 212.
Historically, the party that controls the White House almost always loses seats in the House during the midterms, and Mr. Trump is working hard to defy history. But with Mr. Massie, whose northern Kentucky district is strongly Republican, the question wasn’t whether the voters would elect a Republican – it’s what kind of Republican they would elect.
Six states – Alabama, Georgia, Idaho, Kentucky, Oregon, and Pennsylvania – voted in primaries Tuesday in a test of Mr. Trump’s influence.
But Kentucky dominated the national conversation, given Mr. Massie’s no-holds-barred effort to present a different, though still Republican, perspective. He aligns more with the libertarian, small-government approach to governance, as does Kentucky GOP Sen. Rand Paul – at times also a Trump nemesis.
Team Trump was so intent on defeating Mr. Massie that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth traveled to Kentucky’s 4th District on Monday to campaign for Mr. Gallrein, the former Navy Seal.
Republican voters in Mr. Massie’s district expressed admiration on primary day for their congressman’s willingness to buck the president, even when they support both. Valerie Yaden, standing in the parking lot of a shopping center in Covington, Kentucky, said she planned to vote for Mr. Massie.
Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff
A registered nurse from Latonia, a neighborhood in Covington, Ms. Yaden said she doesn’t always agree with Mr. Massie, and she gets mad at him when he goes against Mr. Trump. But Mr. Massie had her vote, because at least she knows where he stands on issues that are important to her, such as cutting federal spending and keeping the government out of people’s business.
“I want someone who will stand up for our state, not someone who will stand up for the people in Washington,” Ms. Yaden says.
Vicki Dailey, a retired IT specialist in healthcare, says she likes Mr. Massie because “he really wants to cut the budget, and that’s why many of us vote for him.”
Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff
John Reeves, a retired athletic director from southern Kenton County, is a registered independent and cannot vote in the Republican or Democratic primaries. But he has come out to support his wife, Rhonda, as she campaigns for down-ballot candidates who promise to protect farmers from industrial developers moving into their area.
Mr. Reeves says of Mr. Massie, “I admire him for his courage. People in general, across the U.S., respect guys who can think for themselves. I’d rather not have my congressmen be yes-men for the president.”
Mr. Massie’s independent style has put him in the line of fire, Mr. Reeves says, but “I think he likes being the lone wolf out there. If he loses, he’ll wait a while until the regime changes, and he will run again. He’s universal. He’s in everybody’s memory.”
Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff
But in a race where turnout surged compared with the last congressional primary in 2024, the Trump-backed Mr. Gallrein won handily.
In the end, it’s not clear that the hotly contested GOP primaries of 2026 will have much impact on the general elections in November, says Charlie Cook, founder of the Cook Political Report.
But there are larger forces at play.
“The Republican Party is undergoing an enormous transition,” Mr. Cook writes in an email. “The dominant post-World War II wing of the GOP is withering, and its victories are rare.”
Mr. Cook says candidates with views that are out of step with their voters could be at risk.
“This danger is intensified now, because both parties have simultaneously moved away from the center and narrowed their breadth. The distance between the most and least liberal elements of the Democratic Party and the most and least conservative/populist elements of the GOP has intensified this risk.”
