Massie falls in Trump showdown as key Kentucky, Georgia races take shape
President Donald Trump racked up another win Tuesday night, successfully helping oust another Republican lawmaker who didn’t always toe the party line. Kentucky. Rep. Thomas Massie lost Tuesday’s primary to Trump-backed challenger and former Navy SEAL Ed Gallrein in what has been described as the most expensive U.S. House primary ever.
Gallrein’s campaign got a boost not only from Trump’s endorsement, but from heavy outside spending, including major support from pro-Israel groups, which AdImpact says accounted for about half of the money spent to help his candidacy.
Massie has been one of the GOP’s most consistent critics of U.S. involvement in the war with Iran.
“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,” Massie joked as he addressed his supporters after the election.
Trump threw his weight behind Gallrein for not just opposing the war with Iran, but also Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill.” In March, Trump traveled to Massie’s district in Kentucky in a show of support for Gallrein, going so far as to call Massie a “disaster.” And on Monday, in an usual move, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth traveled to the state to campaign for Gallrein.
“Look, they used, they used a lot of dirty tricks, but we stayed the course,” Massie said during his concession speech. “We did not. We didn’t bend the knee. We didn’t throw a foul ball. We didn’t do any of those things. We didn’t kneecap anybody. There were we had lots of opportunities to try a lot of stuff like that, and we never did it. We ran a clean race.”
He added, “We weren’t really running against Ed Gallrein. We weren’t running against Donald Trump. We were running for what we believe in.”
Massie’s term doesn’t end until January, giving him several more months on Capitol Hill and more opportunities to clash with the Trump administration.
Another Trump-back candidate wins in Kentucky
Also in Kentucky, Trump-backed Congressman Andy Barr won the Republican primary for retiring Sen. Mitch McConnell’s seat. Barr will face Democrat Charles Booker in November.
“To every Kentuckian who supported our campaign and to President Trump for trust and confidence, THANK YOU,” Barr said in a social media post Tuesday night.
Trump inserted himself into that race earlier this month, backing Barr. He pushed MAGA businessman Nate Morris to end his campaign and accept an ambassadorship instead. Morris did and quickly backed Barr.
Kentucky has not elected a Democrat to the Senate since Wendell Ford in 1992.
No Republican winners in Georgia
Kentucky wasn’t the only state with major races on the ballot Tuesday. In Georgia, voters pushed both the Republican governor’s race and the GOP Senate primary into runoffs.
Former college football coach Derek Dooley and Congressman Mike Collins managed to knock Congressman Buddy Carter out of the Senate race, but it was still too close to call a winner.
Whoever clinches the runoff will go up against Democratic incumbent Sen. Jon Ossoff in what will be one of the most closely watched races in the November midterms.
Meanwhile, Lt. Gov. Burt Jones and healthcare billionaire Rick Jackson will meet in a runoff for the governor’s nomination. The winner will take on former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms in November.
History repeats in Alabama
Alabama will see a rematch of sorts after Tuesday’s primaries.
Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville will go head to head against former Democratic Sen. Doug Jones in the governor’s race come November. Tuberville unseated Jones in the Senate race six years ago.
Round out your reading
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Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
