US President Donald Trump’s hold on his support base is being tested as voters decide whether one of Congress’s most independent conservatives can survive the Republican leader’s full political firepower.
The standout contest is in Kentucky, where Trump aims to oust seven-term Republican Thomas Massie, one of the president’s most persistent internal critics. The race measures whether Trump’s grip on Republican voters remains strong despite war, inflation and sliding national approval ratings — and whether there is still room in the party for lawmakers willing to break with him.
Massie has angered Trump by opposing US military action in Iran and Venezuela, criticizing aid to Israel, resisting parts of the president’s agenda and helping push for the release of files related to multimillionaire sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Trump has endorsed Ed Gallrein, a farmer and retired Navy SEAL, spending more than $32 million in ad spending — much of it from pro-Israeli groups opposed to Massie. The president has spent months attacking Massie, labelling him a disloyal “moron,” a “nut job” and a “major sleazebag.”
Massie — who has voted with Trump around 90 per cent of the time so far in the president’s second term — has cast the race as a test of independence inside the Republican Party.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth made an unusual appearance in Massie’s district to campaign for Gallrein, despite it being against federal law for federal employees to engage in partisan political activity while on duty.
The Kentucky showdown follows Trump allies’ victory over state lawmakers in Indiana who resisted his redistricting demands and Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy’s failure to make a runoff after voting to convict Trump following his impeachment over the 2021 US Capitol riot.
Elsewhere, Georgia voters are choosing candidates in Senate and gubernatorial primaries, with Democrats trying to unseat two incumbent justices in contests that have drawn endorsements from Barack Obama and other party heavyweights. No incumbent Georgia Supreme Court justice has lost reelection in more than a century.