Incumbent Congressman Thomas Massie easily cruised to victory over Democratic challenger Matt Lehman in Tuesday’s General Election.
The Lewis County Republican will now head back to the U.S. House for a sixth term.
“I want to thank all of you for sending me back to Washington D.C. to fight for you for personal liberty, economic freedom, and constitutionally limited government,” Massie said in a video statement with the City of Cincinnati in the background.
Newport Democrat Lehman ran a robust campaign but, in the end, fell short 64% to 32%.
“Free and fair elections are the bedrock of our democracy, and I congratulate the incumbent on his reelection,” Lehman said. “I ran for office to advocate for good government over partisan rancor. I look forward to staying engaged in our political and electoral process.”
One of Lehman’s central campaign tenets is being a more constructive legislator than Massie, but he also hopes to address the opioid crisis.
During campaign events, Lehman has repeatedly touched on what he calls Massie’s ineffectiveness and lack of care for the people of the district. It is a sentiment shared by some leaders in the Northern Kentucky region.
Most notably, Massie voted against the 2021 Infrastructure Bill that could provide funding for a companion Brent Spence Bridge without tolls.
“I did not vote for Biden’s mislabeled Infrastructure Bill because it wasted billions of taxpayer dollars on high-speed internet for prison inmates, electric car charging stations, and economically crippling ‘Green New Deal’ initiatives,” Massie said, elaborating that as a member of the Transportation Committee, he would always advocate for critical infrastructure investments in the district.
While Massie’s opponents say he doesn’t accomplish anything, the five-term congressman said he plans to try to convince his colleagues in the U.S. House to pass separate appropriations bills instead of what he calls irresponsible, all-inclusive omnibus bills.
“I will also continue to build support for my signature legislative initiatives to end the unscientific and immoral COVID vaccine mandates, give farmers more freedom to market their products directly, audit the Federal Reserve, restore our right to keep and bear arms, and strengthen the U.S. patent system,” Massie said during the fall.
Massie spent most of his time campaigning with liberty-aligned candidates instead of campaigning for himself.
“This year, I’m focused on helping principled leaders get elected to all levels of government in Kentucky,” Massie said during the campaign. “I’ve been campaigning alongside mayors, judges, magistrates, state representatives, and state senators here in Kentucky’s Fourth Congressional District, and I have contributed nearly $100,000 to those campaigns.”
Kentucky Democrats hoped to use Lehman to close the gap on Massie while building Democratic infrastructure and more solid fundraising mechanisms, but those hopes seem to have been dashed with Lehman losing by such a large percentage.
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