Ad barrage against Thomas Massie begins claiming he’s ‘sided with the ayatollah’
The first round of attacks to defeat Rep. Thomas Massie in 2026 has landed.
A political action committee run by a former campaign manager for President Donald Trump released an ad blasting Massie for his votes against Trump’s budget bill and his opposition to U.S. involvement with Iran, claiming he “sided with Democrats and the ayatollah.”
The ad largely parcels out line items from the Trump-backed “Big, Beautiful Bill,” a far-reaching budget bill. Massie was one of only two Republicans to vote against it in the House, much to Trump’s chagrin, on the grounds that it spent too much.
However, the ad focuses on other items related to the bill.
“What happened to Thomas Massie?” the ad asks. “President Trump is banning sex changes on minors. Massie voted against it. President Trump is cutting taxes and saving Kentucky families $10,000. Massie voted against it. President Trump is securing our border and deporting criminal aliens. Massie voted against Trump again.”
The attack ad is from MAGA KY, a political action committee recently formed by Trump advisers Chris LaCivita and Tony Fabrizio. National outlet Axios has reported that the group intends to spend $1 million distributing the ad, airing it on Fox News as well as broadcast stations in the Cincinnati and Louisville markets.
Trump himself has feuded with Massie off and on since his first term in the White House, but his anger hit a crescendo this week with Massie’s loud stand against Trump’s involvement in Iran, where American bombers damaged three key nuclear development sites.
Massie recently filed a war powers resolution in an attempt to block the U.S. from involvement in a war that had at first involved only Iran and Israel.
Massie says the ad is an example of the “DC Swamp” trying to “silence” him.
“I’ve never been bought out by the DC Swamp,” Massie wrote in a statement to the Herald-Leader. “They’re trying to silence me, but of course it won’t work. It’s a shame these consultants are wasting MAGA donor money on absurd attacks motivated by foreign lobbyists instead of protecting our slim majority.”
The ad ends with an image of Massie alongside progressives Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, as well as Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
“After Trump obliterated Iran’s nuclear weapons program, Massie sided with Democrats and the ayatollah,” the ad says.
Later, reporting surfaced casting doubt on Trump’s initial statement that Iran’s nuclear enrichment sites were “completely and totally obliterated.”
In social media posts, Trump also suggested he would come to Kentucky to help defeat Massie and “will have a wonderful American Patriot running against him” in the GOP primary.
“Congressman Thomas Massie of Kentucky is not MAGA, even though he likes to say he is,” Trump posted this week. “Actually, MAGA doesn’t want him, doesn’t know him, and doesn’t respect him.”
Kentucky’s primary elections are held in May.
This story was originally published June 27, 2025 at 9:51 AM.
