Trump-Backed Navy SEAL Ed Gallrein Crushes Kentucky Incumbent Thomas Massie in GOP Primary Showdown [WATCH]

President Trump scored a major political victory Tuesday as Ed Gallrein, a former Navy SEAL and Kentucky farmer backed by the president, defeated Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., in a fiery Republican primary, according to The Associated Press.

Gallrein’s victory came after Trump repeatedly targeted Massie in the closing days of the race and threw his support behind Gallrein, whom he recruited into the contest, as reported y Fox News.

The result marked a major blow to Massie, a longtime Trump critic who has frequently opposed parts of the president’s legislative agenda.

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Gallrein won by nearly ten points, delivering a win for Trump’s political operation and pro-Israel groups that spent heavily in the effort to defeat Massie.

At his victory celebration in Covington, Kentucky, Gallrein thanked Trump for his endorsement and said his focus would be on the president’s agenda.

“My focus is on advancing the president’s and the party’s agenda to put America first and Kentucky always,” Gallrein said.

Massie conceded the race while speaking to supporters at his primary night headquarters in Hebron, Kentucky.

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“I have called and conceded the race. We’ve been honorable the whole time, and we’re going to stay that way,” Massie said.

The primary became one of the most closely watched Republican contests of the cycle as Trump escalated his criticism of Massie. On Monday, Trump called Massie the “worst ‘Republican’ congressman in history.”

Gallrein made a similar argument during an interview with Fox News Digital on Monday.

“My opponent, he’s running against President Trump and the agenda that has been put forward by the Republican Party,” Gallrein said.

Massie had argued ahead of the vote that Trump’s endorsement of Gallrein would not be enough to defeat him because of his grassroots support in Kentucky.

“I’ve got the groundswell here, like my events. I’ve got 100–200, sometimes 300 people show up,” Massie told Fox News Digital.

“My opponent had to cancel events because he couldn’t get enough people, you know, to fill up a Dairy Queen, half a Dairy Queen.”

“We’ve been able to match them to go toe-to-toe with them on TV using grassroots donors, and it’s really galvanized the nation,” Massie continued.

Massie also said Secretary of War Pete Hegseth’s decision to campaign for Gallrein on Monday showed Trump’s political operation believed Massie was “up in the polls.”

“They wouldn’t be sending the Secretary of War to my congressional district if I weren’t,” Massie said.

Trump also campaigned against Massie in March in Kentucky’s solidly Republican district, calling him “disloyal” to the Republican Party and the United States.

Massie, a libertarian-minded lawmaker, has clashed with Trump on several major issues. He was one of a small number of Republicans who voted against the president’s landmark tax cut and spending law, citing concerns over budget deficits.

He also helped push the legislative effort requiring the Department of Justice to release the Epstein files, despite objections from the White House, before it later supported the effort.

More recently, Massie became one of the strongest Republican critics of Trump’s war with Iran and repeatedly voted with Democrats to curtail the military campaign.

Massie’s votes against military aid to Israel and resolutions denouncing antisemitism also helped draw pro-Israel donors aligned with Trump into the race.

“Here’s the thing, I’ve got nothing against Israel. I just have never voted for foreign aid,” Massie told Fox News Digital.

“When I said America First, I meant it. I don’t vote for foreign aid to Egypt, to Syria, to Ukraine. I’ve got a flawless record on this, and I’m not going to ruin it by sending foreign aid to one country.”

In his concession speech, Massie described the race as historically expensive.

“Welcome to the most expensive congressional primary ever in the 250-year history of this country. It’s not just the most expensive. This thing went on longer than Vietnam,” Massie said.

NOW – Thomas Massie concedes his Kentucky Primary race: “Welcome to the most expensive congressional primary ever in the 250 year history of this country.”@disclosetv pic.twitter.com/mHyvldKjWO

— LeoRisingLioness8508 (@PheonixLeoRise8) May 20, 2026

He also said bipartisanship has “become a dirty word in this country.”

Despite losing, Massie said there remains “a yearning in this country for somebody who will vote for principles over party. You all don’t like bullies, and you don’t tolerate them. And I love you for it.”

Gallrein’s victory followed other recent primary wins for Trump-backed candidates.

Earlier in May, Trump celebrated the defeat of five Indiana GOP lawmakers who helped block the state from redrawing its congressional map to benefit Republicans before the November midterm elections.

Another Trump victory came Saturday when Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., was shut out of the runoff election for a third Senate term.

Cassidy voted to convict Trump after his second impeachment in January 2021.

Massie had previously defeated primary challengers in 2022 and 2024. Gallrein became the strongest challenge Massie had faced since first winning election to the House in 2012.

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