Trump-backed Gallrein ousts Massie as six states hold primaries
by Darryl Coote & Joe Fisher · UPIMay 19 (UPI) -- Former Navy SEAL-turned-farmer Ed Gallrein defeated Donald Trump critic Rep. Thomas Massie in Kentucky on Tuesday night, delivering the president a high-profile victory as dozens of his endorsed candidates competed in primaries across six states.
Voters in Kentucky, Georgia, Alabama, Pennsylvania, Oregon and Idaho cast ballots in a heated primary night on Tuesday in which Trump endorsed some three dozen candidates, including governors and members of Congress.
Trump endorsed most Republican House incumbents who had races on Tuesday, aside from Massie in Kentucky and Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, who is running unopposed in Pennsylvania's 1st District.
Tuesday's primaries -- like all that have been held and will be held during Trump's second term -- are being watched to gauge the influence he maintains over the Republican Party. Earlier this month, the majority of Trump-backed challengers to incumbents who stood against the president's redistricting push won.
Kentucky
In Kentucky, Trump's backing appears to continue to carry weight.
Unofficial election results from the office of Kentucky's Secretary of State on Tuesday night, with 96 of 120 precincts reporting, showed Gallrein was leading by almost exactly 10,000 votes, securing 55% of the ballot share to Massie's 45%.
Massie conceded the race.
At $32.6 million in ad spending, with about $19 million backing Gallrein, the contest to be the GOP's nominee for Kentucky's 4th Congressional District is the most expensive primary ever and rivals that of major House general elections, according to data from AdImpact.
Gallrein's win followed weeks of Trump belittling and insulting the seven-term Republican, who has clashed with the president and fellow Republicans during Trump's second term in office.
Attracting Trump's ire, Massie co-led the legislative push for the Justice Department to make public the investigation files into disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, a onetime friend of Trump.
Massie also voted against the president's budget reconciliation bill, the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act, last year, and has been in outspoken opposition to the war in Iran.
On Tuesday as ballots were being cast, Trump -- who had endorsed Massie in 2022, and stumped for Gallrein this election cycle -- called Massie online "the Worst Congressman in the Republican Party."
When he came out for his concession speech at the Marriott Cincinnati Airport in Hebron, Ky., he chided Gallrein, stating he would have come out sooner but "it took a while to find Ed Gallrein in Tel Aviv."
Massie defended his campaign as "honorable." He explained that they weren't running against Gallrein, or against Trump but "running for what we believe in."
"Listen, if you always vote with the president, if the legislative branch always votes with the president, we do have a king. If the legislative branch which votes whichever way the wind is blowing, then we have mob rule. But, if the legislative branch and the representatives and the senators that serve with it always follow the Constitution, then we have a republic," he said.
As his speech ended, he seemingly put to rest any notion that he would be out of politics. With his supporters shouting "president," Massie replied, "Alright. Well, you made a compelling argument," suggesting he might run for the White House in 2028.
"You spoke your piece, but I need a medical margarita right now and we'll talk about it later," he concluded.
About 15 miles east of where Massie spoke, Gallrein in Covington told supporters that now the primary was behind him he was focused on "advancing the president's and the party's agenda to put America first and Kentucky always."
"For the same reason I entered as a Navy SEAL officer in 1983, because I had the audacity to think I could make a difference and I did, I will serve this district, my party and my nation with that same audacity to make a difference for them, their families, our district, our party and our nation," he said in his victory speech.
The other race attracting attention in the Bluegrass State was for the seat of Sen. Mitch McConnell -- a seat the powerful legislator has held for 40 years and 19 days as of Tuesday, making him the second longest-serving active senator.
Rep. Andy Barr was leading the Republican field of 11 candidates, securing 60% of GOP ballots cast, according to the unofficial election results.
Former state Rep. Charles Booker claimed victory in the Democratic primary, achieving 47% of the vote, with Amy McGrath in second with 36%.
"I'm honored to be your Democratic nominee for Senate," Booker said in a social media statement late Tuesday.
"We have the chance to make history in November. Let's flip the Senate because we all deserve better!"
Alabama
Sen. Tommy Tuberville, a Republican, and former Sen. Doug Jones, a Democrat, were poised on Tuesday night to win their respective parties' nominations for governor.
Both were on the precipice of landslide victories Tuesday night. With 41 of 67 counties reporting as of about 9:45 p.m. CDT, Jones had secured 78.25% of the vote share in the six-candidate Democratic primary, and Tuberville had 85.28% of the GOP vote in the three-horse race, according to unofficial election results from Alabama's secretary of state's office.
The gubernatorial race will be a rematch of the 2020 Senate race, in which Tuberville bested Jones. Jones had won the Senate seat in a 2017 special election, but was the last Democrat to hold a statewide seat in the deep red state.
Tuberville, who was endorsed by Trump, claimed victory in a speech he gave by the statue of Vulcan in Birmingham. Before his supporters, the former football coach rejected the notion that he is running against a candidate he has previously defeated, but is instead running against "an ideology that is so bad, that is so far left, that has nothing to do with the last 250 years that this country's been great."
"I'm running against socialism and communism, I'm running against people that believe in killing the unborn. I'm running against people -- my God, folks -- I'm running against people that I don't know if they believe in God anymore," he said.
"I'm running against people that absolutely want to change this country and write everybody a check and say everything's going to be great, but who's going to work and who's going to make the money. That's what they are now."
Jones also claimed victory in a speech Tuesday night before cheering supporters, stating that what is at stake in November for Alabama was bigger than any party, faction or person, and that his campaign was large enough for everyone.
"This campaign started and has always rested on one simple belief: that there's enough folks in Alabama who refuse to accept the way things are, the way things have always been," Jones said, stating what Alabama needs is a competent government.
"Can we do better than where we are? I think so. And starting here tonight, we can begin that change."
With Tuberville exiting the Senate for the gubernatorial race, a seat is opening up in the upper chamber of Congress.
With no candidate securing a majority of their party's backing, both the Republican and Democratic primaries appeared headed for runoff elections.
On the Republican side, Rep. Barry Moore had secured 42.34% of the vote share, followed by Steve Marshall with 23.85%. For the Democrats, civil rights advocate and attorney Everett Wess had 38.59% and Dakarai Larriett had 29.89% of ballots cast in the four-person race, according to unofficial results.
Georgia
Another large test of Trump's pull was in the Peach State's GOP gubernatorial race, which appeared headed for a runoff between Trump-endorsed former Georgia Lit. Gov. Burt Jones and Rick Jackson, a billionaire healthcare executive.
Unofficial election results showed Jones had secured 38.34% and Jackson 32.6%.
While Trump's candidate did not win outright, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger was in third with nearly 15% of the vote share.
Raffensperger, who was targeted with a bomb scare during his campaign, has been the recipient of far-right criticism and repeated threats since he refused Trump's demand that he "find" enough votes to overturn Georgia's 2020 presidential election results.
The phone call was later cited in Trump's second impeachment trial.
Pennsylvania
In the commonwealth, Gov. Josh Shapiro ran uncontested in the Democratic primary for re-election, as did Stacy Garrity on the Republican side.
In Congressional District 7, firefighters' union leader Bob Brooks, who had the endorsement of Shapiro and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., claimed victory.
"I'm honored to be the Democratic nominee for PA-07," he said on social media.
"On to November."
This week in Washington
Vice President JD Vance speaks during a news conference on anti-fraud initiatives in the Indian Treaty Room of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building at the White House on Wednesday. Photo by Daniel Heuer/UPI | License Photo