Israel lobby takes out Thomas Massie in grueling primary

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Israel lobby takes out Thomas Massie in grueling primary
Rep. Thomas Massie at a recent candidate debate. ( | Jon Cherry/AP)

Funding from the Republican Jewish Coalition, AIPAC, and pro-Israel billionaires made it the most expensive primary election in U.S. history. Despite an ongoing war, Secretary of War Hegseth traveled to Kentucky to oppose Massie… Massie supporters now want Massie to run for President

(The two other most expensive primaries (in 2024) also featured AIPAC-backed candidates defeating incumbents who were deemed to be too anti-Israel…)

Three articles below:

By Blaise Malley, reposted from Responsible Statecraft

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) lost his bid for re-election to primary opponent Ed Gallrein 54% to 45% with nearly all votes counted on Tuesday night.

Massie’s defeat will no doubt be seen as a triumph of both the continued durability of pro-Israel forces in the party, as well as the president’s own ability to dictate outcomes in intra-party races. Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), who voted to impeach Donald Trump during his first term, lost his primary election over the weekend against a Trump-endorsed candidate.

Massie, who had served seven terms representing his state, is a fiscal conservative and libertarian. He had emerged during Trump’s first term as a rare Republican who stood up to the president, notably opposing Trump on his massive $2.2 trillion COVID spending bill. More recently he proposed and helped to pass a law in November opening the Epstein files, and then supported a series of war powers votes as a major critic of Trump’s war on Iran. Massie has also opposed bills that would provide aid to Israel for its own wars.

This drew Trump’s ire. The president called the Kentucky incumbent “Worst Congressman in the History of our Country,” in a series of social media posts hours before the primary. Trump has also called him a “moron,” “bum,” “obstructionist,” and a “fool.” [Trump is also funded by pro-Israel donors.]

The race also attracted the attention of the Republican Jewish Coalition and the pro-Israel lobbying group the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). PACs associated with both, with multi-million dollar contributions from powerful pro-Israel GOP donors Miriam Adelson, Paul Singer, and John Paulson, helped it to become the most expensive primary election in the U.S. history. The two other most expensive primaries (in 2024) also featured AIPAC-backed candidates defeating incumbents (both Democrats) who were deemed to be too anti-Israel.

AIPAC praised Gallrein on Tuesday after the race was called. “Pro-Israel Americans are proud to back candidates who support a strong [U.S.-Israel] alliance and help defeat those who work to undermine it,” they wrote on X. “Being pro-Israel is good policy and good politics!” The group’s super PAC had called Massie “the most anti-Israel Republican in the House.”

In his concession speech, Massie poked fun at the relationship, saying that he would have conceded earlier, “but I had to call my opponent (…) and it took a while to find Ed Gallrein in Tel Aviv.”

In the lead-up to Tuesday’s voting, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth campaigned for Gallrein, saying that he would “vote with [Trump] when it matters the most,” unlike Massie, who had, in the secretary’s words “acted like his job is to stand apart from the movement that President Trump leads.”

Massie’s friend and colleague, Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna, who worked together to pass that aforementioned Epstein files law, was quick to comment on his loss

On Monday in Responsible Statecraft, Jack Hunter laid out the stakes of Massie’s election. “Can Kentuckians trust that Washington is working in their best interest, or in the case of so many different lobbies in town, is it only serving those with more money, more influence?” Hunter wrote. 

Can ‘America only’ Massie survive today’s AIPAC mobbing?

This Republican House primary election in Kentucky is already the most expensive in history and might be the most important

By Jack Hunter, reposted from Responsible Statecraft

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) told a reporter outside the Capitol on Friday, “I’m walking to an airplane to rejoin the most expensive congressional race in U.S. history.”

The self-described “America only” congressman said his primary has “turned into a referendum on whether Israel gets to buy seats in Congress. And what they found out is that my seat is really expensive.”

His Trump-endorsed opponent, Ed Gallrein, has the backing of three pro-Israel billionaire backers: casino mogul Miriam Adelson, hedge fund manager Paul Singer and investor John Paulson. With the help of pro-Israel lobbying group AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee), they have now made this the most expensive primary election in American history, with total spending expected to be more than $25 million.

The Kentucky Republican has attracted the ire of Donald Trump more than once in recent years, whether from voting against his massive COVID spending bill in 2020, voting against foreign aid to Israel (he’s against all foreign aid), or opposing the war in Iran. Last year, libertarian Massie was one of only two House Republicans to vote against the president’s so-called “Big Beautiful Bill,” which Massie said added to the national debt.

That vote was enough for Trump to declare that he just needed any “warm body” that he could endorse to dethrone Massie in a primary. That body, 67-year-old Gallrein, is a fifth-generation Kentucky farmer and a former Navy Seal. Gallrein has said he wants to bring back the military draft and has used apocalyptic language about what he sees as a “holy war” between the U.S. and Iran, similar to rhetoric used by Evangelical Christian leaders including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

Despite an ongoing war in the Persian Gulf, Hegseth traveled to Kentucky to stump for Gallrein on Monday and delivered a vague speech about party unity without ever getting into policy. “President Trump does not need more people in Washington who are trying to make a point, especially from his own party,” Hegseth charged. “He needs people willing to help him win, to vote with him when it matters the most. And too often, Thomas Massie has acted like his job is to stand apart from the movement that President Trump leads instead of strengthening it.”

At no point did Hegseth invoke the America First spirit that Trump originally ran on and that Massie now claims to represent. It is largely unheard of that a U.S. Secretary of Defense would inject himself into a primary race of his own party, and in the middle of a war in the Middle East no less.

The Pentagon says Hegseth is campaigning against Massie in his own “personal capacity.”

As the voting opens in Kentucky today, polls are showing a neck-and-neck race with turnout for both candidates being key, thus Trump pulling out all the guns, even the defense secretary, to shift the tide against his nemisis.

But obviously this is far more than just two regular Republicans vying for a House gig. Perhaps even more than Trump’s personal vendetta against Massie, the usual establishment coalition of neoconservatives, Christian Evangelical Zionists and wealthy pro-Israel mega-donors have made this a referendum on the acceptable levels of the Israel lobby’s influence in American politics and in American war policy.

Massie told a reporter that the forces against him were trying to send a message, and that message is “if you’re a Republican, you better do whatever Israel wants. And I think it’s gonna backfire on them.”

He added, “They’re going all in, they’ve pushed all the chips in. Miriam Adelson’s probably spent more money on my race than she is spending on the ballroom (in reference to the White House ballroom renovation desired by Trump).”

“Well, AIPAC is kind of a proxy for the military-industrial complex,” he added.

On Friday, Massie announced he was introducing the “Americans Insist on Political Agent Clarity (AIPAC) Act,” that would require that organization to register as a foreign agent.

AIPAC and its singular national interest is also a test of the ideological parameters of today’s Republican Party. “Whether Massie wins will determine if there’s any room in the GOP for someone who questions U.S. funding and devotion to Israel,” said independent journalist Glenn Greenwald. “Trump forced one out by calling her a traitor (Marjorie Taylor Greene). John Hostettler (R-IN) lost his primary to an AIPAC-funded opponent.”

Greenwald concluded, “Massie is the only one left.”

Coming fresh off the ground in Kentucky, New York Times reporter Jennifer Medina noted on Friday that “foreign policy rarely moves voters” but this race may be the exception.

“What’s different here is that Massie has made opposition to foreign aid and intervention one of his central positions,” she wrote. “And his opposition to the war has prompted a lot of anger from President Trump. It was fascinating to hear from many Massie supporters who view that as a sign of his strength and integrity.”

Medina added, “But even more than that, so many voters are furious about the way the war is driving up costs, especially for gas.”

The overriding dynamics in Massie’s district appear more complicated and nuanced than merely the Trump loyalty test or even Gallrein’s big money backers and Israeli influence.

On March 7th, Massie posted on Facebook, “I’m saddened to hear that the seventh U.S. military casualty was a brave Kentuckian.” He was mourning the loss of 26-year-old Sgt. Benjamin Pennington of Elizabethtown, Kentucky who had been a star track runner at his high school. He had been killed in Operation Epic Fury.

“I think the biggest challenge is putting the trust in the people that are making the decisions,” said local Rebekah Osman, who attended a memorial service for Pennington, at the time. “It’s easy to stand at arm’s length and just say, ‘Yep, they know what they’re doing. This is what it’s supposed to be.’”

She added, “But then when this happens to somebody so close by, I think everybody has to stop and think about it all a little bit harder.”

Can Kentuckians trust that Washington is working in their best interest, or in the case of so many different lobbies in town, is it only serving those with more money, more influence? Tuesday’s race may not decisively answer that question but it is clear that this one issue, specifically AIPACs role in U.S. elections, has been thoroughly aired and vigorously debated in Kentucky’s 4th District.

President? Governor? Another Congress run? What will Thomas Massie pursue next.
 
A supporter holds a sign for Rep. Thomas Massie as Massie delivers a concession speech at an election night watch party at the Marriott Cincinnati Airport in Hebron, Ky., on Tuesday, May 19, 2026. Ryan C. Hermens [email protected] (photo)

By Hannah Pinski, reposted from Lexington Herald-Leader, May 20, 2026

U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie may have lost his congressional seat, but his supporters don’t want that defeat to end his political career.

At his watch party on May 19, around 500 of his supporters gathered at the Marriott Cincinnati Airport International Ballroom, consistently chanting “2028” throughout his 30-minute concession speech.

But some supporters weren’t trying to indicate that Massie should for Northern Kentucky’s 4th Congressional District again. When Massie played it coy and asked the crowd if they wanted him to make a comeback in Congress, multiple people yelled back “no!” and said he should run for president.

“I need a medical margarita right now, and we’ll talk about it later,” Massie said from the stage.

In one of the most closely-watched races in the country, GOP primary challenger Ed Gallrein ousted Massie to represent the Northern Kentucky district. Gallrein was endorsed by President Donald Trump, who targeted Massie because of a perceived lack of personal loyalty to the president.

[Editor’s note: Many mainstream reports on the election downplayed the Israel causation. This article leaves it out entirely.]

But Massie, an iconoclastic budget hawk and libertarian, has a loyal base of supporters, including outside of Kentucky, that could be key in building a coalition for a 2028 presidential run.

Multiple attendees at his party traveled hundreds of miles to support Massie and door-knocked for his campaign despite being unable to vote in Kentucky.

Brayden Curry, who traveled from Colorado for the party, said in an interview with the Herald-Leader he would support a 2028 presidential run for Massie.

“If 2028 comes around and Massie is running for president, I’m going to be there,” Curry said.

Timothy Kochevar, who traveled from Ohio, said he would like to see Massie run for president but is unsure if he will give into the pressure.

“He has definitely shown that he doesn’t give into pressure, so I’m not sure we can pressure him into running for president,” Kochevar said. “But I would very much like to see him do that, and I think obviously by reaction of the crowd they would like to see him do that.”

Massie isn’t the only Kentucky Republican who could run in the 2028 presidential race.

U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, who is a close ally of Massie, has also expressed interest in running for president. Paul previously ran in the 2016 presidential race but dropped out after poor performance in the Iowa Republican caucus.

Gubernatorial run in the cards?

Another future race Massie could enter and has left the door open to is Kentucky’s 2027 gubernatorial contest.

He would be a wildcard in the GOP primary for that race, but Massie has said before that he would be a “good governor.”

Massie has looked to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for inspiration and previously said he learned a lot from him after spending many hours with DeSantis on the road and supporting him as presidential candidate.

“I think Trump would do better if he worked closer with this legislature, instead of trying to do everything by executive order. Certainly DeSantis used all of his executive power, but also went further and got things consummated in the legislature,” Massie said early this year.

Democratic Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman is the only candidate who has formally announced a run in the 2027 gubernatorial race. But on the Republican side, U.S. Rep. James Comer is also expressing significant interest in running and seen as a front-line contender for the Republican nomination

Massie has a long-standing friendship and political alliance with Comer, which began with endorsing Comer in the 2015 GOP gubernatorial primary.

Blaise Malley is a reporter for Responsible Statecraft. His writing has appeared in The Nation, The New Republic, The American Prospect, The American Conservative, and elsewhere.

Jack Hunter is the former political editor of Rare.us. Jack has written regularly for Modern Age, Washington Examiner, The Daily Caller, The American Conservative, Spectator USA and has appeared in Politico Magazine and The Daily Beast. Hunter is the co-author of the The Tea Party Goes to Washington by Sen. Rand Paul.<

Hannah Pinski covers Kentucky politics, including the legislature and statewide constitutional offices, for the Lexington Herald-Leader. She joined the newspaper in December 2025 after covering Kentucky politics for the Louisville Courier Journal for almost two years. Hannah graduated from The University of Iowa in 2023 where she double-majored in Journalism and Music and minored in Political Science. 

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