The Republican voters of Kentucky gave Donald Trump a victory on Tuesday by pushing out the Republican representative Thomas Massie, a frequent opponent of a president who tightly controls his party and punishes dissenters.
The residents of this state in the central-eastern United States were called to choose the Republican and Democratic candidates in the midterm elections in November, which will determine control of Congress and largely the rest of Donald Trump’s second term.
In the Republican primary for the fourth district of Kentucky, Thomas Massie, a 55-year-old conservative representative, was defeated by Ed Gallrein, a farmer and former member of the US Navy special forces, according to projections from NBC and CNN. “He was a bad guy, he deserved his defeat,” said the Republican billionaire upon hearing the results.
The election might have gone unnoticed in normal times, but Donald Trump has made significant efforts in recent weeks to help Ed Gallrein win, but mostly to make the incumbent lose, seen as insufficiently loyal to the 79-year-old president.
“Thomas Massie is a disastrous congressman,” said Donald Trump to the press on Tuesday before the announcement of the results. “I don’t think he’s a Republican, I think he’s actually a Democrat,” he added. “Never doubt President Trump and his political power. Make mistakes, and you’ll see,” summarized White House communications director Steven Cheung after the results were announced.
This victory of a pro-Trump candidate over one despised by the president is just the latest in a growing list. In Indiana, a conservative state in the Midwest, Donald Trump succeeded earlier this month in making most of the Republican members of the local parliament who had dared to oppose his electoral redistricting demands lose.
In Louisiana, another conservative state in the South, Senator Bill Cassidy found out on Saturday that going against the Republican billionaire can haunt an elected official for years.
After voting in 2021 for the impeachment of Donald Trump due to his role in the Capitol assault, Bill Cassidy faced a relentless campaign this year from the White House occupant. As a result, Bill Cassidy didn’t even qualify on Saturday for the second round of primaries, a humiliating setback for an incumbent senator.
As for Thomas Massie, a staunchly right-wing representative, he claims loyalty to his ideas rather than to a single figure. He was notably the co-author of the law that forced the Trump administration to make public documents from the Epstein file last year. More recently, he proposed a resolution to demand an end to the war against Iran.
All these acts of unacceptable defiance for the Republican president have prompted him to embark on a revenge campaign to make his party members who have opposed him at some point lose.
On Monday, he mobilized his defense minister, Pete Hegseth, to an event with Ed Gallrein in Kentucky. An unusual gesture in the United States for a serving minister.
According to American media, never has so much money been poured into a primary campaign in US history, with over 30 million dollars in expenses.
Even though Thomas Massie goes against some of Donald Trump’s positions in Congress, he said on Fox News on Tuesday that he is not “a candidate against President Trump” and boasts of being supported by anti-abortion organizations and gun rights advocacy groups.
Other US states are also holding primaries on Tuesday. In Georgia, Republicans must choose their candidate to challenge Jon Ossoff in November, the only Democratic senator currently in a state won by Donald Trump in 2024.
Georgia is also voting on Tuesday for two seats on the state Supreme Court, currently held by conservative judges. The results should serve as a powerful indicator of the voters’ mood in this key state, less than six months before the midterm elections.
