Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) on Monday seized on Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s visit to Kentucky to campaign for his primary challenger, retired Navy SEAL Ed Gallrein, as evidence that the Trump-backed bid is unraveling. The appearance, Massie argued, revealed a campaign in distress rather than one confident of victory.
“How much personal time do you have when you’re supposed to be monitoring a war in Iran?” Massie told CBS News. “You don’t send the Secretary of War to Kentucky during a war if you think your candidate is up 10 points. That’s what you do when you realize your whole campaign is imploding.” Hegseth, who alongside President Trump has overseen U.S. military operations in Iran, appeared with Gallrein at a rally in Hebron, Ky., on Monday. Trump has endorsed Gallrein in the contentious primary race for Kentucky’s 4th Congressional District.
Massie and Trump have been at odds since the congressman co-led a discharge petition to force the Justice Department to release files on convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The president has long criticized Massie, more recently over the lawmaker’s opposition to the Iran war. “He knows I’m tough to beat,” Massie said. “He’s literally losing sleep over this race, because he’s in with both feet. I think their polling shows what our polling shows, which is there’s a better than half chance that we’re going to win this race.”
The incumbent, who has represented the district since 2012, said massive spending by pro-Israel groups like the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and GOP donor Miriam Adelson has reshaped the contest. Massie noted that his internal support dropped from 80 percent to 60 percent due to this outside money. “I think what would have been a 60-40 race is now a 50-50 race,” he said, calling the primary “a referendum on whether the Israeli lobby can buy a seat in Congress.” The race has drawn national attention, with critics questioning the propriety of Hegseth’s appearance. Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell told The Hill that the secretary attended the event “in his personal capacity,” a claim Hegseth echoed at the rally.
Hegseth, in his remarks, framed the election as a fight for reinforcements. “War fighters understand mission, they understand teamwork, they understand loyalty, and they understand that in the middle of a fight, you don’t weaken your own side to advance to the objective, and that’s what Ed Gallrein understands, because he has lived it,” he said. He also accused Massie of “grandstanding,” painting him as an obstructionist with “years of acting like being difficult is the same thing as being courageous. It’s not.”
The primary comes days after Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), another Republican who crossed Trump, failed to secure his seat in Louisiana’s primary, forcing a runoff in June. Cassidy was one of the few GOP lawmakers who voted to convict Trump during his second impeachment trial over the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack. The dynamic underscores the ongoing intraparty battle between Trump loyalists and incumbents who have broken with the former president. For more on the broader GOP primary landscape, see Cornyn’s concession that a Trump endorsement is unlikely in the Texas runoff.
Massie’s fight has also been linked to larger battles over Trump-era policies. The congressman has been vocal against the $1.776 billion fund opened to Trump allies, which he argues distorts primary races. As the Kentucky primary approaches, Massie remains defiant, insisting that the race is a test of whether independent-minded Republicans can survive Trump’s wrath.
