Trump-Backed Former Navy SEAL Ed Gallrein Ousts Libertarian Rep. Thomas Massie 54.4-45.6 in $32.6 Million Kentucky GOP Primary, the Most Expensive U.S. House Race in History

WASHINGTON — Rep. Thomas Massie, the libertarian-leaning Kentucky Republican who had spent more than a decade publicly defying his own party leadership and, more recently, openly feuding with President Donald Trump, lost his Tuesday primary in Kentucky's 4th Congressional District to Trump-endorsed former Navy SEAL Ed Gallrein. With nearly all votes counted, Gallrein led 54.4 percent to Massie's 45.6 percent, the Associated Press, CNN and NBC News all called the race within two hours of poll closings.

The contest is now the most expensive House primary in American history. According to AdImpact tallies cited by The Washington Post and The Hill, more than $32.6 million flooded into the suburban Cincinnati district through television, digital and mail advertising, much of it from a Trump-aligned super PAC called MAGA Kentucky and from pro-Israel groups furious over Massie's votes against military aid to Israel and his attempts to force release of files related to the late financier Jeffrey Epstein. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth made an in-district stop on Trump's behalf in late April, an appearance House Democrats argued violated the Hatch Act.

Gallrein, a 41-year-old former Navy SEAL platoon chief and Northern Kentucky farmer, ran almost exclusively on his loyalty to the Trump agenda. "Tonight, the voters of the 4th District sent a message that the era of voting against the president our party nominated is over," Gallrein told supporters at a victory party in Fort Wright. Trump posted on Truth Social shortly after the call: "A GREAT WIN for ED GALLREIN and a HUGE WIN for AMERICA FIRST. Thomas Massie was always grandstanding for the cameras. He is gone!"

Massie, who was first elected to the House in 2012 to replace Sen. Rand Paul's old seat, conceded in a brief statement to the Kentucky Lantern, calling the loss "a verdict on the price of independent thinking inside a Republican Party that has decided loyalty is the only virtue." His brand of fiscal-hawk libertarianism — opposing nearly every continuing resolution, voting against the GOP's Speaker selections and frequently siding with progressive Democrats on surveillance and war powers — had made him the only sitting House Republican to vote against Trump's signature 2025 reconciliation package.

The defeat was the third Trump-backed primary victory in two weeks against an incumbent or Trump critic, following losses for Rep. Victoria Spartz in Indiana and Rep. Garret Graves in Louisiana earlier in May. Gallrein will face the Democratic nominee, attorney Tara Vance, in November in a district that Trump carried by 18 points in 2024. National Republicans privately concede the seat is no longer competitive, and Massie allies have begun floating a possible 2027 independent gubernatorial bid back in Kentucky.