AIPAC takes out Israel lobby critic Thomas Massie in grueling primary

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) lost his bid for re-election to primary opponent Ed Gallrein 54% to 45% with nearly all votes counted on Tuesday night.

Massie’s defeat will no doubt be seen as a triumph of both the continued durability of pro-Israel forces in the party, as well as the president’s own ability to dictate outcomes in intra-party races. Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), who voted to impeach Donald Trump during his first term, lost his primary election over the weekend against a Trump-endorsed candidate.

Massie who had served seven terms representing his state, is a fiscal conservative and libertarian. He had emerged during Trump’s first term as a rare Republican who stood up to the president, notably opposing Trump on his massive $2.2 trillion COVID spending bill. More recently he proposed and helped to pass a law in November opening the Epstein files, and then supported a series of war powers votes as a major critic of Trump’s war on Iran. Massie has also opposed bills that would provide aid to Israel for its own wars.

This drew Trump’s ire. The president called the Kentucky incumbent “Worst Congressman in the History of our Country,” in a series of social media posts hours before the primary. Trump has also called him a “moron,” “bum,” “obstructionist,” and a “fool.”

The race also attracted the attention of the Republican Jewish Coalition and the pro-Israel lobbying group the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). PACs associated with both, with multi-million dollar contributions from powerful pro-Israel GOP donors Miriam Adelson, Paul Singer, and John Paulson, helped it to become the most expensive primary election in the U.S. history. The two other most expensive primaries (in 2024) also featured AIPAC-backed candidates defeating incumbents (both Democrats) who were deemed to be too anti-Israel.

AIPAC praised Gallrein on Tuesday after the race was called. “Pro-Israel Americans are proud to back candidates who support a strong [U.S.-Israel] alliance and help defeat those who work to undermine it,” they wrote on X. “Being pro-Israel is good policy and good politics!” The group’s super PAC had called Massie “the most anti-Israel Republican in the House.”

In his concession speech, Massie poked fun at the relationship, saying that he would have conceded earlier, “but I had to call my opponent (…) and it took a while to find Ed Gallrein in Tel Aviv.”

In the lead-up to Tuesday’s voting, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth campaigned for Gallrein, saying that he would “vote with [Trump] when it matters the most,” unlike Massie, who had, in the secretary’s words “acted like his job is to stand apart from the movement that President Trump leads.”

Massie’s friend and colleague, Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna, who worked together to pass that aforementioned Epstein files law, was quick to comment on his loss.

On Monday in Responsible Statecraft, Jack Hunter laid out the stakes of Massie’s election. “Can Kentuckians trust that Washington is working in their best interest, or in the case of so many different lobbies in town, is it only serving those with more money, more influence?” Hunter wrote. “Tuesday’s race may not decisively answer that question but it is clear that this one issue, specifically AIPACs role in U.S. elections, has been thoroughly aired and vigorously debated in Kentucky’s 4th District.”