by WorldTribune Staff / 247 Real News May 20, 2026
Ed Gallrein, a former Navy SEAL backed by President Donald Trump, knocked off incumbent Rep. Thomas Massie in Kentucky’s Republican primary on Tuesday.
By the time the race in the 4th Congressional District was called, Massie was trailing by 10 points.
“The worst Congressman in the long and storied history of the Republican Party, is Thomas Massie. He is an obstructionist and a fool. Vote him out of office tomorrow, Tuesday. It will be a great day for America! President DJT,” Trump wrote Monday on Truth Social, then re-posted on Tuesday.
“It was a David versus Goliath. I was the underdog,” Gallrein told Fox News host Sean Hannity after the race was called.
“I want to thank the president. I want to thank the conservative Republicans from this district and my supporters and team because it sends a message that we the people are going to stand up.”
Gallrein, a Kentucky dairy farmer, secured roughly 55% of the vote compared to Massie’s approximately 45%.
Massie was one of two Republicans to vote against Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill.”
“Thomas Massie is about to have a lot more time on his hands to hate Jews and pretend he cares about Jeffrey Epstein’s victims,” Breitbart’s John Nolte wrote. “While it’s glorious that this self-regarding narcissist lost, even more glorious is that he got himself humiliated by a ten-point margin — ten points — 55 to 45 percent, with 99 percent of the vote counted.”
How big was Trump’s endorsement?
In the 2024 primaries, Massie won with nearly 40,000 votes.
On Tuesday, Massie exceeded his 2024 raw vote total with over 47,000 votes.
He still lost.
Gallrein won with nearly 58,000 votes.
Earlier this month, Trump successfully campaigned to oust a group of Indiana state Republicans who opposed his redistricting push. Sen. Bill Cassidy, who was one of seven Republican senators who voted to convict Trump in 2021 after the House impeached him, finished third in the Louisiana primary over the weekend and will not advance to a runoff. Trump had supported Rep. Julia Letlow, who finished first in the contest.
Trump added Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn to the list. Trump endorsed Cornyn’s primary opponent, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who defeated Cornyn in the GOP runoff.
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