Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky lost his primary Tuesday to challenger Ed Gallrein, ending his bid for an eighth term in what CBS News projected as a defeat that capped the most expensive House primary on record.
Gallrein, a former Navy SEAL, was backed by President Donald Trump, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, AIPAC, the Republican Jewish Coalition, and GOP megadonors including Miriam Adelson. Pro-Israel interest groups funneled millions into the race in a bid to remove Massie, who had opposed the Iran war, defied party leaders by pressing the Justice Department to release the Epstein files, and voted against Trump's signature legislation, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
Trump spent the days before the primary attacking Massie as the "worst congressman in the long and storied history of the Republican Party."
"He is an obstructionist and a fool," Trump wrote in a social media post Monday.
Hegseth campaigned for Gallrein on Monday and criticized what he called Massie's "constant obstruction," noting he was present in his personal capacity.
"At some point, being against everything becomes an excuse for accomplishing nothing," Hegseth said.
Massie, in an interview with CBS News on the eve of the primary, pushed back on the characterization of his record. He said he votes with Trump "90% of the time," but that Trump and his allies "want 100% compliance."
"It's only the 10% of the time they're mad about — when I won't vote for a war, when I won't vote for warrantless spying and when I won't vote to bankrupt the country," he said. "But in those instances, I'm doing what I told the people in Kentucky I would do."
On the eve of the vote, Massie expressed confidence but acknowledged the race had tightened because of outside spending.
"I think what would have been a 60-40 race is now a 50-50 race," he told CBS News.
Trump himself campaigned for Gallrein and made the race a direct test of loyalty to his agenda.
