By
Ed Kilgore,
political columnist for Intelligencer since 2015
Six states held primaries on May 19 in what some observers called a “mini-Super Tuesday.” The headline contest was in Kentucky, where hardcore libertarian Republican congressman and Trump tormenter Thomas Massie lost his seat to farmer and former Navy SEAL Ed Gallrein. It was the most expensive primary in congressional history, with the seven-term incumbent drawing on a national grassroots base and Gallrein benefiting from heavy spending by pro-Israel groups angry at Massie’s attacks on the Gaza and Iran wars.
Most conspicuously, the challenger had the robust support of President Trump, who campaigned in person for Gallrein and made it clear Massie had to go. Massie had antagonized the president and House Speaker Mike Johnson on a broad range of foreign and domestic issues (he even voted against last year’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act). But his biggest sin in Trump’s eyes was his major role in the legislation that forced release of the Epstein Files. Gallrein won by a comfortable majority despite Massie’s active support from fellow libertarian heretic and Kentucky Senator Rand Paul.
