Ed Gallrein has secured the Republican nomination for Kentucky’s 4th Congressional District after a hotly contested primary, defeating incumbent Thomas Massie.
This was the most expensive GOP primary in U.S. House history, with more than $32 million spent, as funds flowed in from billionaire mega-donors, super PACs and small-dollar donors from across the country.
Kentucky’s 4th Congressional District, which encompasses 21 counties and nearly 775,000 people, is currently represented by longtime incumbent Thomas Massie, who was first elected in 2012. Despite facing challengers in previous GOP primaries, no one has posed quite the threat as former Navy SEAL Ed Gallrein.
“We weren’t really running against Ed Gallrein. We weren’t running against Donald Trump. We were running for what we believe in,” Massie told a crowd of supporters during his concession speech Tuesday night.
Gallrein, who’d run for statewide office only once before, announced his candidacy in October 2025, accompanied by an endorsement from President Donald Trump. The president’s endorsement catapulted Gallrein into the throes of contention.
At Gallrein’s election night watch party at Wenzel Distillery in Covington, Edgewood resident Kim Steffen said she has always voted for Massie in the past.
But this year, she changed it up.
“I’d been a Massie supporter,” she told LINK nky. “I started looking out because I didn’t like some of the voting that Massie had done.”
The GOP primary was effectively a proxy battle between Trump and Massie, as the congressman had proven to be a thorn in the president’s side. Massie had voted against several of Trump’s legislative priorities, such as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act in 2025, multiple COVID-19 stimulus packages, and criticized the president’s foreign policy regarding Iran.
Massie reflected on the loss at his election night watch party on Tuesday.
“We stirred up something,” Massie said. “There is a yearning in this country for somebody who will vote for principles over party.”
Massie was also the only Republican to co-sponsor the Epstein Files Transparency Act, partnering with Democrat Ro Khanna of California on the bill. Trump ultimately signed the bill into law.
Trump has publicly railed against Massie, calling him a “loser,” a “bum,” and “The Worst Republican Congressman in History.” In March, Trump visited Northern Kentucky to campaign for Gallrein. At his rally at Verst Logistics in Hebron, Trump praised Gallrein’s military record, calling him “straight out of central casting.” The president also spent time attacking Massie, musing about the possibility of his handpicked candidate defeating Massie.
Historically, Trump has a strong record of defeating Republicans who’ve openly challenged him. Earlier this week, Sen. Bill Cassidy, one of seven Republicans who voted to impeach Trump after January 6, was defeated in the primary by a Trump-backed challenger.
Massie, a libertarian-leaning conservative, has largely relied on his ideological principles to explain why he’s split with Trump on particular issues. Massie is described as a fiscal conservative who calls for cuts to federal spending, which he argues needs to be reined in. Massie has consistently advocated for reducing the overall size and scope of the federal government, voting against large spending bills introduced by both Democrats and Republicans.
On the other hand, Gallrein markets himself as a traditional conservative focused on supporting Trump’s legislative agenda. Gallrein has argued that Massie is insufficiently loyal to the Republican Party, even calling him a “Benedict Arnold” – an idiom for a traitor – during a February campaign stop in Wilder.
In response to those criticisms, Massie has argued that his job is to work for the people of his district, rather than the Republican Party or Trump. Massie has called Gallrein a “rubber stamp” for Trump, saying he would vote on his principles, rather than political expedience.
In the days leading up to the primary, several national political figures visited Northern Kentucky to campaign for their preferred candidate, underscoring the stakes of the race.
On Monday, May 18, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth campaigned for Gallrein at the Hilton DoubleTree at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport. On Saturday, May 16, Massie hosted campaign events featuring Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, Colorado’s 4th Congressional District Rep. Lauren Boebert, Ohio’s 8th Congressional District Rep. Warren Davidson, Indiana’s 5th Congressional District Rep. Victoria Spartz, and Kyle Rittenhouse.
