Donald Trump’s handpicked candidate for a congressional seat in Northern Kentucky, Ed Gallrein, defeated the president’s nemesis and longtime GOP House member Thomas Massie in one of the most expensive primaries on record.

With 72% of the vote counted, Gallrein had about 54% to Massie’s 46%, Decision Desk HQ reported.

Gallrein’s victory is the clearest sign yet of Trump’s grip over his Make America Great Again base in solid Republican states even as national surveys show the broader electorate souring on the president’s handling of the economy and war in Iran.

A former Navy SEAL and farmer, Gallrein, 68, is a relative newcomer to politics. He ran a low-key campaign by refusing to debate Massie and generally avoiding the press. His chief selling points were his military service, his endorsement by Trump and his promise to be a reliable vote for the president’s policies. At his victory speech, Gallrein first thanked Trump.

“The winner of the race is not so much Ed Gallrein, but it is for the Republicans of Kentucky District Four, who I will be a champion for in Washington,” Gallrein told supporters.

Massie, addressing supporters, said he conceded the race. He then criticized his opponents for buying the seat and making it one of the most expensive races in history. He also lashed out at Trump for focusing on construction of a new White House ballroom when he said gas prices are approaching $5 a gallon and “people are just trying to make ends meet.”

There is little doubt Republicans will hold the seat in the November midterm elections — they’ve won Kentucky’s fourth district almost interrupted since the 1960s. But the primary was the latest test of whether GOP candidates could defy the president on high-profile issues and still get reelected.

Massie, a libertarian and fiscal hawk, became one of Trump’s biggest critics, working alongside a handful of Republican female lawmakers and Democrats to demand the release of the Epstein files. He also refused to vote for the Republicans’ sweeping and signature tax and health care bill in 2025, citing his concerns about its cost.

“We stirred up something,” Massie told his supporters Tuesday night. “There is a yearning in this country for someone who will vote for principles over party.”

All this made him a persona non grata to Trump, who used his social media account to call him a “lowlife, “moron” and “the Worst ‘Republican’ Congressman we have had in many years.” At a rally in Kentucky in March, Trump said all he wanted was “somebody with a warm body to beat Massie.”

Nearly $33 million was spent on the race, according to data from AdImpact, an extraordinary amount for a House primary. Gallrein and his allies, which include super political action committees backed by hedge fund manager Paul Singer, Marc Rowan of Apollo Global Management Inc., and billionaire investor Haim Saban, accounted for $19 million of the total.

That total included funding from two pro-Israel super PACs that backed Gallrein. The United Democracy Project, the super PAC arm of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, and the Republican Jewish Coalition Victory Fund, have combined to spend more than $9 million.

In a sign of how existential the race was for Trump, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth appeared on the campaign trail for Gallrein on Monday, though he said he was there in his “personal capacity.”

Gallrein’s victory is the latest in a winning streak for the Trump political operation. On Saturday, the Trump team unseated Louisiana GOP Senator Bill Cassidy in that state’s primary, weeks after several Indiana state senators who defied the president on redistricting were defeated in their primaries.

As voters in Kentucky were still going to the polls on Tuesday, Trump surprised some Republican leaders by endorsing Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in his hard-fought GOP Senate runoff against four-term incumbent Senator John Cornyn, one of the most expensive races in Senate history.

Still, the broader picture for Republicans heading into the mid-terms is less rosy. In poll after poll, Trump’s approval rating has tumbled as voters grow frustrated with soaring gas prices, stubborn inflation and other cost-of-living issues.

Even with Republican advantages on nationwide redistricting efforts, Democrats remain favored to take the House in November, a scenario that would leave Gallrein’s victory with little practical meaning beyond Trump’s satisfaction at vanquishing another political foe.

Kentucky Representative Andy Barr easily won the primary to fill the seat being vacated by longtime Senator Mitch McConnell, which is expected to stay in GOP hands.

In other races across the country, the Republican primary for senator in Georgia appears headed toward a runoff next month. That bodes well for the incumbent, Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff, prolonging the expensive GOP contest to face him in November. The race is seen as a must-win for Democrats if they are to have any path toward retaking the Senate in November.

In Pennsylvania, Governor Josh Shapiro, widely seen as 2028 presidential hopeful, easily won his primary for a second term.

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(With assistance from Bill Allison and Brett Pulley.)

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