Voters in Kentucky’s 4th Congressional District ousted embattled Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) on Tuesday in the most expensive House primary in American history, marking the latest incumbent to fall amid President Donald Trump’s campaign to purge Republicans he views as disloyal to his agenda. With about half the vote reported, Trump-backed challenger Ed Gallrein, a former Navy SEAL and farmer, leads with 54% of the vote. Decision Desk HQ called the race at 7:41 p.m. ET.   It’s a stunning political collapse for the libertarian-minded fiscal hawk who rode the Tea Party wave into Congress in 2012 and remained politically untouchable ever since. LIVE UPDATES: Republican Primary Voters Go To The Polls In Kentucky, Georgia Massie’s defeat delivers another political win for Trump, who in recent weeks has exacted revenge against Indiana Republicans who bucked his redistricting effort and Louisiana GOP Sen. Bill Cassidy for voting to convict Trump on impeachment charges.  Few Republicans, if any, have provoked more ire from the president than Massie. In October 2025, Trump recruited and endorsed Gallrein, throwing the full weight of his MAGA political machine to remove Massie from the halls of Congress. In a Truth Social Post rallying his base, Trump called Massie, long a thorn in his side, a “bum” and the “worst Republican Congressman in history.” The president’s frustration with Massie traces back to March 2020, when Trump called Massie a “third rate Grandstander” and urged the GOP to kick him out of the party after he tried to stall a $2.2 trillion COVID aid package. Two years later, Trump endorsed Massie in his primary, hailing him as a “Conservative Warrior” and a “first-rate Defender of the Constitution,” The Daily Wire previously reported. But during Trump’s second term, the Kentucky Republican has stepped up criticism of the administration over a range of foreign and domestic issues. He voted against Trump’s signature tax cut and spending bill and has accused the administration of “flaunting the law,” and said Republicans opposed to his discharge petition, forcing the release of Epstein files, were voting to “protect pedophiles.”   Massie has also supported resolutions to curb Trump’s authority to launch military strikes against the Islamic Republic of Iran and has criticized the U.S.-backed operation to capture Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro, who is sitting in a federal jail pending criminal charges.  “Wake up MAGA. VENEZUELA is not about drugs; it’s about OIL and REGIME CHANGE. This is not what we voted for,” Massie said in a social media post.  On the campaign trail, Massie defended his record and insisted on voting independently of the White House.  “It’s a question of whether you can have even the slight bit of a dissenting vote on any day at all. Because I vote with the party 90% of the time,” Massie told a local news outlet. “It’s a referendum, I do believe, on whether the legislative branch works for the executive branch or if we are co-equal branches.” The campaign drew unprecedented third-party spending, amassing more than $32.6M and becoming the most expensive House primary on record, according to AdImpact. Pro-Gallrein spending accounted for $18.8M compared to $13.2M Pro-Massie fundraising.  In addition to the MAGA KY super PAC founded by former Trump campaign manager Chris LaCivita, pro-Israel groups, including AIPAC and the Republican Jewish Coalition, have spent millions opposing Massie, according to Decision Desk HQ.  Massie, on the other hand, mostly accepted out-of-state money from anti-war progressives, Muslim-American activists, and left-aligned PACs, including Integrity Political Action Committee (IPAC), which recently partnered with a chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) to undermine ICE, The Daily Wire previously reported. Money aside, the race drew political heavy-hitters into Kentucky’s 4th Congressional District, which stretches along the Ohio River and includes much of the suburban and exurban corridor between Cincinnati and Louisville. Over the weekend, Trump threatened to support a primary challenge against Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) after she hit the campaign trail to support Massie.  In Saturday night Truth Social posts, Trump railed against Republicans backing Massie for “parading around like fools,” calling Boebert “weak-minded.” “Boebert is campaigning for the Worst ‘Republican’ Congressman in the History of our Country, Thomas Massie, of the Great Commonwealth of Kentucky, and anybody who can be that dumb deserves a good Primary fight!” Trump said.  “Even though I long ago endorsed Boebert, if the right person came along, it would be my Honor to withdraw that Endorsement and endorse a good and proper alternative,” he said. “Yes, I saw the president’s post. No, I’m not mad or offended. I knew the risks when I agreed to stand by my friend Thomas Massie. I was, and will be, America First, America Always, and MAGA,” Boebert said in response. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth on Monday hit the stump for Gallrein. “At some point, being against everything becomes an excuse for accomplishing nothing,” Hegseth said at a Kentucky campaign event. “President Trump does not need more people in Washington who are trying to make a point, especially from his own party. He needs people willing to help him win, to vote with him when it matters the most.”  In response, Massie said, “Dogs don’t bark at parked cars.”  “The fact you got cabinet secretaries that may be coming to my district to campaign against me, during a war, shows how serious this is to the global elites that I lose,” he said.