- Barr became the first major GOP Senate candidate to endorse Gallrein, who is challenging longtime incumbent Thomas Massie in the 4th District Republican primary.
- Both Barr and Gallrein centered their message on loyalty to President Donald Trump and the need for party unity amid a slim House majority.
- Gallrein criticized Massie for breaking with Trump on key votes, while Massie’s campaign has attacked Gallrein as “woke” ahead of the primary showdown.
Correction: The article has been updated to reflect the event was held at the Jolly Event Center, not Jolly Plumbing Headquarters.
Rep. Andy Barr visited Northern Kentucky for the first time since endorsing Ed Gallrein on Feb. 5, when the Lexington congressman became the first major GOP Senate primary candidate to publicly support an opponent of Rep. Thomas Massie.
Gallrein, a former Navy SEAL and Army Ranger, is challenging Massie in the Republican primary for Kentucky’s 4th Congressional District, which spans from suburban counties around Louisville, up to Northern Kentucky, and several rural counties running eastward along the Ohio River toward Ashland. Gallrein, who is originally from Simpson County, currently lives on a farm in Shelbyville.
Gallrein is a relative newcomer to electoral politics, with his only prior election experience being an unsuccessful primary bid for the Kentucky State Senate’s District 7 seat in 2024. Massie is the district’s longtime incumbent, having been first elected in 2012.
Barr, himself, is in a tightly contested GOP primary against former Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron and entrepreneur Nate Morris to replace retiring Sen. Mitch McConnell, who’s held one of the Bluegrass state’s two Senate seats since 1985.
Barr, who represents Kentucky’s 6th Congressional District, appeared alongside Gallrein at campaign stops in Wilder and Crescent Springs on Friday, Feb. 13. LINK nky attended the Wilder event, where Gallrein and Barr addressed a crowd of supporters inside the Jolly Event Center.
In their stump speeches, both men shared a core tenet: support for President Donald Trump, which is one of the primary reasons Barr said he decided to endorse Gallrein. Trump endorsed Gallrein on Oct. 21.
“It is that I think that Ed Gallrein will be a terrific congressman who will be a loyal member of the team, both in terms of the House Republican conference,” Barr said. “He will work with, not against our speaker; he will work with our majority leader, not against a majority leader; and he will work with this administration and this President, and that’s what we need.”
Over the past year, Massie has drawn Trump’s ire after splitting with the president on several of his legislative initiatives. Notably, Massie was one of only two House Republicans to vote against the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. In addition, Massie was the only Republican to co-sponsor the Epstein Files Transparency Act and has publicly advocated for the release of the files alongside Rep. Ro Khanna, a Democrat from California.
With Massie consistently among the few House Republicans to publicly break with the president, Trump and his team spent last summer and fall vetting primary opponents to challenge him. Ultimately, Trump endorsed Gallrein.
When asked how he differentiates himself from Massie, Gallrein said he would emphatically back the agenda of Donald Trump and the Republican Party more broadly. He even went so far as to refer to Massie as a ‘Benedict Arnold’ – an idiom used to describe someone as a traitor or turncoat – for bucking Trump.
“So to differentiate, he is not disloyal. He is, in many ways, a Benedict Arnold – which is worse,” Gallrein said. “He has betrayed the party and the values of the party. If he had the courage of his convictions, you just say, I’m a libertarian and move on. He can’t do that.”
In January, Massie and his campaign released their first attack ad against Gallrein, branding him as “woke.” The ad references his previous role as an executive coach for Vistage Worldwide, a company that advises corporate executives.
Gallrein rejected the label, calling Massie desperate and dishonest.
“His desperation is only exceeded by his dishonesty,” Gallrein said.
As of now, Trump has yet to endorse a candidate in the GOP Senate primary – something Barr covets. An endorsement from Trump would likely catapult Barr into pole position to win the May primary. With his early endorsement of Gallrein, Barr’s campaign likely aims to get on Trump’s radar by taking the initiative to back Massie’s primary opponent.
Morris announced his endorsement of Gallrein later the same day.
Barr, who has served alongside Massie in Congress for 13 years, told LINK nky the endorsement was “nothing personal with Congressman Massie.”
Barr said that he values maintaining the slim Republican majority in the House of Representatives and that he is more ideologically aligned with Gallrein.
“It’s like our state motto, ‘united we stand, divided we fall,’” Barr said. “If we have Republicans who are voting with Democrats all the time, we don’t have a functional majority.”