Trump and his political operation target their first GOP incumbent:
Kentucky's Thomas Massie
[June 24, 2025]
By BRUCE SCHREINER and JILL COLVIN
LA GRANGE, Ky. (AP) — President Donald Trump and his political operation
are working to unseat their first Republican incumbent: Kentucky Rep.
Thomas Massie, who has drawn Trump's wrath by saying the president
lacked the authority to attack Iran's nuclear sites without
congressional approval and voted against his massive tax and spending
cuts bill.
Trump aides have launched a new super PAC devoted to defeating Massie in
his 2026 primary, Axios first reported. It is the first concerted effort
by his team to unseat a sitting member of Congress and sends a clear
signal to other Republicans that they cross Trump at their peril.
For the libertarian-leaning Kentucky congressman, the threats and social
media barrage from Trump are nothing new. Massie has a history of
angering the White House. He was one of two House Republicans to vote
against the “One Big Beautiful Bill” Trump wants on his desk by July 4.
In 2020, he tried to stall a massive coronavirus aid package during
Trump's first term.
Massie also backed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis over Trump in the 2024 GOP
primary.
In recent days, he has accused Trump of abandoning his campaign pledge
to keep the U.S. out of war, and joined Democrats in introducing a
resolution that would have required Congress to authorize any attacks on
Iran.
Now, the Republican president has vowed to campaign against Massie in
his GOP-dominated district, which stretches across the Bluegrass State's
norther tier. And Trump will have backing.
Trump's political operation steps up
The new PAC, Kentucky MAGA, will be run by two of Trump’s top political
lieutenants, his former co-campaign manager Chris LaCivita and longtime
pollster Tony Fabrizio.
They began planning the effort weeks ago and have met with several
potential challengers. They plan to rally behind a single candidate to
avoid a repeat of past cycles when multiple challengers split the
opposition vote and competed for the president's endorsement.
“If you want to be part of an effort to defeat Massie you will go
through us. And the Trump political operation will run the campaign,"
LaCivita said Monday, adding that the group would spend “whatever it
takes.”
News of the new operation comes after Trump unleashed on Massie on his
social media platform, declaring him “not MAGA” and a “pathetic LOSER"
after Massie railed against the bombings.
“Massie is weak, ineffective, and votes ‘NO’ on virtually everything put
before him (Rand Paul, Jr.), no matter how good something may be," Trump
wrote. “MAGA should drop this pathetic LOSER, Tom Massie, like the
plague! The good news is that we will have a wonderful American Patriot
running against him in the Republican Primary, and I’ll be out in
Kentucky campaigning really hard."
So far, Niki Lee Ethington, a registered nurse, has said she will
challenge Massie in the GOP primary next spring.
Massie deflected the onslaught with humor, replying in his own social
media post that the president had “declared so much War on me today it
should require an Act of Congress.”
“I suspect the President isn’t doing this out of spite for me, but
instead to intimidate my colleagues into rubber stamping his actions,"
Massie told The Associated Press Monday in a statement. “He knows me
well enough to know he’s not changing my mind with these threats.”
A Kentucky conundrum
Until now, Trump has declined to use his enormous war chest to target
Republican incumbents, even as he has voiced frustrations. It's been a
change from the 2022 election cycle, when Trump aggressively targeted
Republicans who had voted to impeach him.
This time he is taking a more disciplined approach, cognizant of
Republicans' extremely narrow majority in the House and the fact that a
loss would imperil his agenda and risk miring him in more impeachments.
To that end, the White House has frowned on members giving up
competitive seats to run for higher office, which could put those seats
at risk.
Kentucky has emerged as an unexpected thorn in Trump's side.
The president has dominated every presidential election since 2016 in
the bright red state. Republicans captured the Kentucky House in 2016 by
riding Trump's coattails, completing a full takeover of the Kentucky
legislature.
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Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., listens during a joint subcommittee
hearing of the House Judiciary Committee, on Capitol Hill, April 1,
2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)
But he has repeatedly clashed with some of their lawmakers in
Washington, including Sen. Rand Paul, who is also a critic of the
spending bill and has railed against Trump's tariffs, as well former
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, whom he has viciously
attacked.
Voter reaction
It remains unclear whether Trump's attacks will be effective. Massie
— known for going his own way in Congress — has remained enormously
popular in his conservative district and has fended off primary
challengers in the past.
In downtown La Grange on Monday, Trump’s latest attack didn't seem
to be gaining much traction.
Republican voter Donna Williamson said Massie’s willingness to stand
up to Trump over Iran only strengthens her support for him.
“He’s speaking out and saying what he believes is true, even when it
makes him unpopular,” she said, “which means I’ve got my ear on him.
I’m listening to him.”
Massie supporter Rob Houchens, a Republican businessman, called the
congressman “a man of principle” and said, “I believe his principles
are in alignment with me and many other of his constituents.”
“And I can't think that it would change one iota of how we would
vote," he added.
Democratic voter Kim Harper said Massie's willingness to take a
stand against Trump might even make her willing to support him.
“I would vote for somebody that would stand up on each party,” she
said, calling Massie's actions “courageous” at a time most GOP
lawmakers are scared to buck the president.
Polling suggests voters are split on how Congress should approach
Trump. About 6 in 10 registered voters say they would like to see
Republicans in Congress do “more to check” the president, according
to a June Quinnipiac poll. But that sentiment isn’t shared by many
Republican voters. Only about 16% say they want lawmakers in their
party to stand up to Trump more, while roughly 8 in 10 want them to
do “more to help” him.
Still, a majority of Republicans say congressional Republicans do
not have an obligation to support Trump’s policies and programs if
they disagree with him, according to a Pew Research Center Poll
conducted earlier this year.
A rocky road
The latest spat reflects the rollercoaster relationship between the
two Republicans.
After Trump denounced Massie in 2020 as a “third rate Grandstander”
for trying to hold up a COVID-19 relief bill that Massie considered
wasteful, the congressman trounced his primary challenger and won
reelection that fall.
Two years later, Massie was back in Trump's good graces. In a 2022
endorsement, Trump referred to Massie as a “Conservative Warrior”
and a “first-rate Defender of the Constitution.”
Longtime Kentucky political commentator Al Cross said Trump's attack
will be an “interesting test, particularly if Trump gets personally
involved beyond social media posts."
It will also matter whether the attack on Iran remains isolated or
marks the beginning of a protracted war.
“We don’t know how much war the MAGA base will accept,” Cross said.
“In any event, my money would be on Massie because he has a
following made substantial by personal contact, not just social
media.”
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Colvin reported from New York. AP poll and surveys reporter Linley
Sanders contributed from Washington.
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