Massie says he’s a pragmatic & independent choice in KET debate with no Gallrein
Rep. Thomas Massie had the debate stage to himself Monday night in an event hosted by Kentucky Educational Television.
The longtime Northern Kentucky congressman worked to soften his disagreements with President Donald Trump, who has endorsed GOP primary challenger Ed Gallrein, and to focus on Kentucky issues.
Massie’s talking points marked a contrast from the bulldog contrarian brand he’s best known for in the national press.
Trump and his political network have invested time and money into unseating Massie, who has served the 4th Congressional District since winning election in 2012. Trump headlined a March rally in Hebron where he encouraged voters to back Gallrein, calling Massie a “total loser” and remarking that Gallrein had “a warm body, but a big, beautiful brain.”
Massie has peeved Trump on several different policy issues. For one, he led the push to force the release of investigative files related to Jeffrey Epstein, initially against Trump’s will. Massie was also the loudest GOP voice in the House against Trump’s marquee budget bill, citing overspending, and he’s opposed Trump-led military campaigns in Iran, including the current war.
Massie’s core pitch to KET viewers, in a 30-minute conversation with moderator Renee Shaw, Monday was that he’s not the anti-Republican villain that Trump has often cast him as. He’s just not a “yes man,” he said, something he contrasted with Gallrein, who has pledged to be more loyal to Trump’s agenda.
“I don’t think you’re well served by a rubber stamp... The guy I’m running against promises to go along to get along. Nobody is well-served that way. The founders never intended for the legislative branch to be a rubber stamp. In the few times that I do disagree with Trump, I’m voting for the voters of Kentucky,” Massie said.
Though his disagreements with the president, and the president’s harsh words about him, are highlighted in the media, Massie paints a picture almost of mutual respect — even if Trump recently called him a “total disaster as a congressman, and, frankly, a human being.”
Massie said most of the vitriol was simply signaling to other members of Congress that they can’t buck the president rather than personal animosity.
“He’s under no illusion that I’ll abandon my principles if he calls me a bad sounding name. When I talk to him on the phone, you want to know what he calls me? He calls me a ‘tough cookie’ and a ‘sharp cookie,’” Massie said.
Massie and Gallrein’s race is expected to be tight, though public, independent polling has been scant.
On Gallrein’s non-attendance, Massie said “he’s afraid to take a position because he knows he doesn’t have positions.”
A spokesperson for Gallrein did not respond to a question on why he did not attend.
The issues
The meatiest issue where Massie bucked Trump and party was Trump’s “One Big, Beautiful Bill Act,” an omnibus bill that, among other things, allocated money for certain projects, cut taxes and cut Medicaid spending.
In explaining his opposition, Massie made a broader point about meaningful legislation being rolled into just one big bill. He said it’s a reason the national budget deficit, which has grown $2.7 trillion since Trump took office and now eclipses Gross Domestic Product, has continued to balloon.
“If the big bill were just tax cuts or good policy, I would vote for it. But again, this gets to what needs to change in Washington. Instead of having giant bills that are 1,000 or 2,000, sometimes 3,000 pages long, that cover 100 topics, we should have single-issue bills, and that way people can’t hide behind one issue to get something else done,” Massie said.
In terms of fixes, Massie said he’s ditched the previous “penny plan,” to cut 1% of federal spending across the board championed by himself and close ally Sen. Rand Paul, for a more ambitious proposal. It would now take 6% cuts to balance the budget, he said.
Massie also said he’d advocate to cut “every penny of foreign aid,” even from U.S. allies like Ukraine and Israel.
His opposition to aid for Israel, he said, is the reason that high-profile supporters of America’s relationship with Israel are supporting the main political action committee formed against him.
“This is another reason I’m in trouble with the swamp, why they want me gone. 95% of my opponent’s donations come from the Israeli lobby. This comes from Miriam Adelson, Paul Singer John Paulson, (American Israel Public Affairs Committee). They put millions of dollars into this race for one simple reason: I’ve never voted for foreign aid, not to Ukraine, not to Egypt and not to Israel,” Massie said.
When commenting on the war in Iran, which the Trump administration began at the end of February, Massie said the exit strategy “can’t come soon enough” given rising gasoline prices. He also said the war shouldn’t be treated as a one-on-one fight given Israel’s campaigns in Iran and Lebanon, where they’ve attempted to cripple the Iranian proxy terror group Hezbollah.
“You need to bring Israel to the table. They’ve used this as an excuse to attack southern Lebanon now, and that does need to be part of the discussion. They need to be at the table. You can’t send the Vice President to some other country talking to somebody from Iran. You’ve got to have Israel to table to end this war,” Massie said.
Another staple topic for Massie is gun rights. He sparked criticism when his family posed for a Christmas card photo with assault rifles in 2021. He’s also been a Second Amendment absolutist throughout his career.
Massie said he would support repealing the Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1990, which barred most gun owners from bringing their firearms within a certain distance of a school.
“Instead of having the default as advertising kids as sitting ducks, have the default be that when a criminal, a would-be shooter, shows up to one of those schools, in the back of his mind, he’s always got to wonder, ‘Is that staff member carrying? Is that teacher carrying,’” Massie said.
In addressing complaints about his effectiveness — Massie is best known for attempts to block legislation rather than passing his own — the congressman cited the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which sailed through Congress with only one “no” vote despite Trump’s initial hesitance.
Somewhat rare for a Republican, Massie addressed renewable energy when Shaw mentioned his reliance on solar panels for powering his home and farm in Lewis County. Massie, an inventor by trade, runs his house on the battery of a wrecked Tesla electric vehicle.
Massie said Republicans are right in their skepticism of government subsidies for technology like solar — he also expressed opposition to solar and data centers on farmland — but they shouldn’t write solar off out of hand.
“What I tell Republicans is you can hate subsidies, but don’t hate solar panels. They are rocks that make electricity,” Massie said.
