Trump-backed Navy SEAL vet delivers major blow to Massie in fiery GOP primary

Trump-backed Navy SEAL vet delivers major blow to Massie in fiery GOP primary

Trump called Massie the 'worst Republican congressman in history' and Hegseth campaigned for Gallrein as race came to close

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Trump-backed Ed Gallrein says Rep. Thomas Massie is ‘running against President Trump’ and the GOP agenda

Former Navy SEAL Ed Gallrein, who is backed by President Donald Trump as he primary challenges Republican Rep. Thomas Massie in Kentucky’s primary, speaks one-on-one with Fox News Digital.

President Donald Trump on Tuesday scored another victory in his revenge campaign against GOP critics, further flexing his grip on the Republican Party after a string of primary wins in recent weeks.

Trump-backed Ed Gallrein, a former Navy SEAL and Kentucky farmer, defeated the president’s longtime antagonist, Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., according to The Associated Press.

Gallrein’s victory represents a major win for Trump’s political operation and pro-Israel allied groups, who spent aggressively to unseat the sitting lawmaker.

TRUMP TARGETS MASSIE IN EXPLOSIVE KENTUCKY SHOWDOWN AS SIX STATES HOLD HIGH-STAKES PRIMARIES

Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., left, is vying for an eighth House term, but Trump-backed GOP challenger Ed Gallrein, right, threatens to derail those plans. (Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images; Jeffrey Dean/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Trump repeatedly unleashed on Massie in unusually personal terms in the final days of the primary contest, while spotlighting his endorsement of Gallrein, who he recruited into the race.

The president called Massie, who has frequently opposed parts of his legislative agenda, the "worst ‘Republican’ congressman in history" on Monday.

Gallrein echoed the president’s attack in an interview with Fox News Digital on Monday.

"My opponent, he's running against President Trump and the agenda that has been put forward by the Republican Party," Gallrein said.

But Massie fired back that Trump’s endorsement of Gallrein was not an insurmountable challenge due to support among the conservative grassroots for his maverick politics.

"I've got the groundswell here, like my events. I've got 100–200, sometimes 300 people show up," Massie told Fox News Digital. "My opponent had to cancel events because he couldn't get enough people, you know, to fill up a Dairy Queen, half a Dairy Queen."

"We've been able to match them to go toe-to-toe with them on TV using grassroots donors, and it's really galvanized the nation," he continued.

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Massie also charged that Pentagon Secretary Pete Hegseth’s decision to campaign for Gallrein on Monday showed Trump’s political operation believed Massie was "up in the polls."

"They wouldn't be sending the Secretary of War to my congressional district if I weren't," he added.

Trump also personally campaigned against Massie in his solidly Republican district in March, calling him "disloyal" to the Republican Party and the United States.

TRUMP SLAMS REPUBLICAN MASSIE AS 'NOT MAGA' FOLLOWING CONGRESSMAN'S CRITICISM OF IRAN STRIKES

A libertarian-minded lawmaker, Massie was one of a handful of Republicans to vote against the president’s landmark tax cut and spending law, citing its impact on budget deficits. He also helped engineer the legislative effort compelling the Department of Justice to release the Epstein files over the vigorous objections of the White House, which later endorsed the effort.

As of late, Massie has emerged as one of the fiercest Republican critics of Trump’s war with Iran and has repeatedly voted with Democrats to curtail the military campaign.

That policy stance — combined with his votes against military aid to Israel and resolutions denouncing antisemitism — drew pro-Israel donors allied with Trump into the race to defeat Massie.

"Here's the thing, I've got nothing against Israel. I just have never voted for foreign aid," Massie told Fox News Digital. "When I said America First, I meant it. I don't vote for foreign aid to Egypt, to Syria, to Ukraine. I've got a flawless record on this, and I'm not going to ruin it by sending foreign aid to one country."

The Kentucky primary contest comes after a string of closely watched GOP primary contests where Trump’s endorsement power proved consequential.

Ed Gallrein, Republican congressional candidate for Kentucky, greets U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth on stage during an America First Workers Special Event in Hebron, Ky., on May 18, 2026, one day before Kentucky's primary election. (Jon Cherry/Getty Images)

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The president celebrated unseating five Indiana GOP lawmakers earlier in May who helped block the state from redrawing its congressional map to benefit Republicans ahead of November’s midterm elections. Another win for the president came Saturday after Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., was shut out of the runoff election for a third Senate term.

The defeated senator notably voted to convict Trump following his second impeachment in January 2021.

Massie successfully fended off primary opponents in 2022 and 2024, though Gallrein posed the most formidable challenge to the incumbent since Massie first won election to the House in 2012.

The victor is expected to cruise to the general election in the deep-red district.

Paul Steinhauser is a politics reporter based in the swing state of New Hampshire. He covers the campaign trail from coast to coast."

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