{"id":8056,"date":"2026-05-20T11:31:37","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T11:31:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=8056"},"modified":"2026-05-20T11:31:37","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T11:31:37","slug":"kentucky-rep-thomas-massie-charted-his-own-way-until-he-was-toppled-by-trump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=8056","title":{"rendered":"Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie charted his own way, until he was toppled by Trump"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By LISA MASCARO, AP Congressional Correspondent<\/strong><\/p>\n

There aren\u2019t many lawmakers like Thomas Massie left in Congress.<\/p>\n

The renegade Republican who rose to prominence as an idiosyncratic and stubborn outlier in his party, popular in the Kentucky district that repeatedly sent him to the House, lost his primary bid for reelection Tuesday after a vicious and costly attack by President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n

Read more Where Trump falters with Republicans \u2014 and where he holds steady, according to a new poll<\/a><\/p>\n

The stunning outcome caps a career like few others and shows the extent of the president\u2019s ability to badger, badmouth and eventually boot out his political adversaries \u2014 and that no lawmaker is apparently safe. Massie\u2019s defeat comes after the Trump-led ouster of Sen. Bill Cassidy in Louisiana over the weekend and the president\u2019s endorsement Tuesday of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in his challenge to Sen. John Cornyn, which sent chills through the Senate.<\/p>\n

Trump had reserved his fiercest attacks for Massie, a quirky conservative who had become among the most powerful rank-and-file Republicans in the House because of his willingness to vote as he pleased, rather than as the party demanded. And now he\u2019s been toppled like so many other Republicans who crossed the president.<\/p>\n

Massie was undaunted after losing to Ed Gallrein, a former Navy SEAL handpicked by Trump.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the legislative branch always votes with the president, we do have a king,\u201d Massie told cheering supporters Tuesday night. But if lawmakers follow the Constitution, he said, \u201cwe have a republic.\u201d<\/p>\n

Massie also teased that his political career may not be over quite yet during the closing moments of his concession speech, as a raucous crowd broke into chants of \u201c2028!\u201d and \u201cPresident!\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cYou\u2019ve made a compelling argument,\u201d he replied. \u201cWe\u2019ll talk about it later.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump said of Massie\u2019s defeat: \u201cHe deserves to lose.\u201d<\/p>\n

Massie\u2019s rise from backbench to prominence to defeat<\/h4>\n

Massie rose from the House Republican backbench, charting his own path and showing again and again he was willing to buck his party and the president.<\/p>\n

He voted against Trump\u2019s big tax cuts bill last year, worried the several trillion-dollar costs would add to the nation\u2019s deficits.<\/p>\n

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He rejected Trump\u2019s military forays against Iran and Venezuela, opposed to U.S. intervention overseas, and he routinely voted against U.S. foreign aid, including to Israel, drawing millions of dollars against him from pro-Israel interest groups.<\/p>\n

And perhaps most remarkably, Massie, in partnership with Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of California, persisted in a long-shot effort to force the Justice Department\u2019s release of the Jeffrey Epstein files.<\/p>\n

It was his work on\u00a0the Epstein files, perhaps more than any of his repeated votes against spending bills and other party priorities, that elevated Massie\u2019s profile.<\/p>\n

Khanna said on X Tuesday that Massie \u201clost because he had the guts to stand up to the Epstein class and against the war.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Orange County scores and player stats for Tuesday, May 19<\/a><\/p>\n

Trump lashed out at the \u201clowlife\u201d Massie as the congressman pushed the issue last year, prolonging a political headache for the White House.<\/p>\n