Thomas Massie is out.
The Republican congressman from Kentucky’s 4th — the only Republican to vote against Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill, the man who filed the discharge petition with Ro Khanna to force release of the Epstein files, the libertarian who called the war on Iran illegal — lost his primary tonight to a Trump-endorsed retired Navy SEAL named Ed Gallrein. Decision Desk HQ called it. NBC called it. CBS called it. Massie walked on stage and conceded. He said the race “went on longer than Vietnam.”
The bill came to $35 million. The most expensive House primary in American history. $19 million spent against Massie. $16 million for him. The Republican Jewish Coalition put up $4 million. AIPAC’s United Democracy Project added $2.6 million. Israeli-American billionaire Miriam Adelson — the woman who paid for Trump’s 2024 campaign — moved millions through aligned channels. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth flew to Kentucky on Monday to campaign for Gallrein in his “personal capacity” — a phrase that means the Pentagon would rather not own it on paper.
Massie diagnosed it himself the night before on CBS. “What would have been a 60-40 race is now a 50-50 race,” he said — and he named AIPAC, the Republican Jewish Coalition, and Adelson as the reason. He was right about the panic. He was wrong about whether he could outlast it.
AIPAC has now removed three sitting members of Congress in three election cycles. Jamaal Bowman in New York. Cori Bush in Missouri. Tonight, Thomas Massie in Kentucky. A progressive Democrat. A Black progressive Democrat. A libertarian Republican. The labels do not matter. The vote on Israel matters. The questions about Epstein matter. Everything else is decoration.
The Kentucky 4th was never going to swing in November. Gallrein will hold it as long as he wants. What the lobby needed was the receipt — a number large enough that every member of Congress watching tonight knows the price of a “no” vote on Israel, and a “yes” vote on Epstein transparency.
Thirty-five million dollars. One member. One message.
Zev Shalev is the Emmy-nominated host of Narativ Live. Subscribe at narativ.org.
