{"id":12724,"date":"2026-07-29T14:35:20","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T14:35:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/realnewsz13.store\/?p=12724"},"modified":"2026-07-29T14:35:20","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T14:35:20","slug":"trumps-push-fends-off-foe-thomas-massies-kentucky-reelection-bid-in-latest-gop-victory-for-president","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/realnewsz13.store\/?p=12724","title":{"rendered":"Trump\u2019s push fends off foe Thomas Massie\u2019s Kentucky reelection bid in latest GOP victory for president"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Trump\u2019s push fends off foe Thomas Massie\u2019s Kentucky reelection bid in latest GOP victory for president<\/h4>\n<\/header>\n
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President Trump claimed his latest political scalp Tuesday night after Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) lost his hotly contested House primary to the commander-in-chief\u2019s hand-picked challenger, Ed Gallrein.<\/p>\n

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Gallrein, a Trump-backed farmer and retired Navy SEAL, triumphed over Massie by about 10 percentage points in the Bluegrass State\u2019s Fourth Congressional District race, which will go down as the most expensive primary race in US history, with more than $32 million spent on political ads.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the same reason I entered as a Navy SEAL officer in 1983, because I had the audacity to think I could make a difference,\u201d Gallrein said in a speech after winning. \u201cI will serve this district, my party and my nation with that same audacity.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Trump repeatedly urged his supporters to oust Massie, an MIT-educated, seven-term congressman, after he broke with the president on key votes and led the charge to release the files on the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.<\/p>\n

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Rep. Thomas Massie speaks after losing the Republican party\u2019s nomination during an election night watch party at the Marriott Cincinnati Airport, Tuesday, May 19, 2026, in Hebron, Ky.AP Photo\/Carolyn Kaster <\/p>\n

Massie\u2019s defeat came on the heels of Trump\u2019s successful intervention in the Louisiana Republican Senate primary against Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), who had voted to convict the 45th president following his impeachment for\u00a0incitement of insurrection following the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.<\/p>\n

The president also successfully\u00a0exacted revenge earlier this month against a slate of incumbent Republican\u00a0state senators in Indiana, who torpedoed a redistricting push in the Hoosier state.<\/p>\n

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And Trump has already signaled that Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), who had been stumping for Massie in Kentucky,\u00a0could be next on his target list\u00a0by the time the Centennial State holds its primary June 30.<\/p>\n

Rep. Andy Barr (R-Ky.), another Trump-endorsed candidate, emerged victorious in the race to replace retiring Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Trump has touted Gallrein, a retired captain in the US Navy, as straight out of \u201ccentral casting\u201d and \u201ca true America First Patriot\u201d and lashed out at Massie for \u201cmaking life very easy for the Radical Left.\u201dGetty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Gallrein, who unsuccessfully ran for Kentucky state Senate in 2024, challenged Massie after the president and his allies made the seven-term incumbent a target for removal over his opposition to the One Big Beautiful Bill.AP Photo\/Joshua A. Bickel<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Barr secured more than 60% of the vote, topping former Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron, who came in second with 30% support.<\/p>\n

In the Georgia governor\u2019s race, another notorious Trump foe came in well-behind the top vote-getters in his bid for higher office.<\/p>\n

Georgia Secretary Brad Raffensperger, who infamously defied the president when asked to \u201cfind\u201d votes in the Peach State after the 2020 election, received about 14.5% of the vote in the GOP gubernatorial primary and failed to make the runoff election.<\/p>\n

Lt. Gov. Burt Jones and billionaire health care executive Rick Jackson advanced to next month\u2019s runoff and the winner is expected to face former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms on the November ballot.<\/p>\n

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Massie has responded to Trump\u2019s onslaughts by positioning himself as more aligned with Trump\u2019s agenda than Gallrein, needling his opponent as \u201cWoke Eddie.\u201dAP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Gallrein changed his party registration back to the GOP after former President Joe Biden was elected in 2020.Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Trump has endorsed Jones in the race to replace term-limited GOP Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp.<\/p>\n

Polls closed in Tuesday\u2019s primary contests just hours after the president made a long-awaited endorsement in the Texas Senate battle between state Attorney General Ken Paxton and Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas).<\/p>\n

In a massive blow to the incumbent, Trump gave Paxton his stamp of approval ahead of next week\u2019s runoff \u2013 calling the firebrand AG a \u201cwinner\u201d and \u201ctrue MAGA warrior.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cornyn had been trailing Paxton in most polling as the GOP braces for a slugfest against\u00a0state Rep. James Talarico (D-50th Dist.)\u00a0in the general election.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Trump\u2019s push fends off foe Thomas Massie\u2019s Kentucky reelection bid in latest GOP victory for president Posted by President Trump claimed his latest political scalp Tuesday night after Rep. Thomas … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12724","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/realnewsz13.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12724","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/realnewsz13.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/realnewsz13.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realnewsz13.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realnewsz13.store\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12724"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/realnewsz13.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12724\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12725,"href":"https:\/\/realnewsz13.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12724\/revisions\/12725"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/realnewsz13.store\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12724"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realnewsz13.store\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12724"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realnewsz13.store\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12724"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}