Thomas Massie

In a rare, norm-breaking move, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth stumped for Ed Gallrein, the candidate backed by President Donald Trump, on the eve of Kentucky's Republican primary, a pivotal election that led to the defeat of Rep. Thomas Massie.

Gallrein won a May 19 primary in Kentucky's 4th Congressional District, with roughly 55% to Massie's 45%. President Donald Trump hand-picked Gallrein to run against Massie, an independent who attracted the President's ire for leading the effort in Congress to force the release of the Epstein files and voting against his war in Iran.

In a highly unusual move for the head of the Pentagon, Hegseth appeared at a Gallrein rally on the eve of the primary election to speak in support.

"I have to say up front, for the lawyers, that I'm here in my personal capacity," Hegseth told the audience at the top of his speech.

"Kentucky has a choice in this race," he said later on. "You can send a warrior [to] reinforce the president in our shared fight against the radical left, or you can send an obstructionist."

"In my mind, it’s an easy choice."

Gallrein introduced Hegseth at the rally: "Pete Hegseth, I want to thank you for coming today, your courageous leadership."

"Thank you for carrying out President Trump's vision for the strongest military this world's ever seen."

The next day, Gallrein, a dairy farmer and former Navy SEAL, cruised to victory on a wave of millions of dollars from Trump-aligned and pro-Israel groups. With $35 million spent, it was the most expensive House primary race in history.

Massie angered Trump by leading the bipartisan congressional push, along with Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of California, to pass a law that forced the Department of Justice to release a massive trove of files related to convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The files contained many references to Trump and shed new light on his past close relationship with the deceased financier. The Massie-Khanna duo also introduced a war powers resolution to stop Trump from going to war with Iran, and Massie has in the months since urged against further military action against the Middle Eastern country.

Trump, who has repeatedly slammed Massie for stepping out of the MAGA line, threw his weight behind Gallrein to oust the Kentucky congressman. Trump called Massie "the worst Republican congressman in the history of the country” at a May 18 telerally.

Hegseth said of Massie at the rally, "President Trump does not need more people in Washington who are trying to make a point."

"He needs people willing to help him win, to vote with him when it matters the most."

Hegseth frequently wades into political and culture war issues that past Pentagon chiefs have shied away from to avoid politicizing the military's top office. Last year, the Pentagon under Hegseth removed books deemed "woke" from the shelves of military libraries and renamed military bases to mimic their original, Confederate-inspired names.

Shannon French, a professor of philosophy and law at Case Western Reserve University who previously taught at the U.S. Naval Academy, said Hegseth had "violated a significant norm" by speaking in support of Gallrein at the rally.

The norm for military figures not to speak "in clearly partisan ways was to preserve the sense that the military itself is non-partisan" and that the military answers to the people, French said.

Active duty service members are barred from making speeches during "partisan political" activities, and a federal law called the Hatch Act bars civil servants from using their position to engage in the those types of activities.

Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement, “Secretary Hegseth is attending this event in his personal capacity. No taxpayer dollars will be used to facilitate his visit."

"His participation has been thoroughly vetted and cleared by lawyers, including the Department of War Office of General Counsel, and does not violate the Hatch Act or any other applicable federal statute.”

The Pentagon chief is not a serving member of the military, but past people who held the position have avoided any action that would give the indication that the party in control would impact how they do their job, according to French.

"Even if they're not codified in law, they still are very important for maintaining the public's trust and respect for the military," French said of those standards.

The country's founders held a "legitimate concern that at some point, if a particular political party somehow co-opted the military, that they could then use the force of the U.S. military to keep themselves in power," she said.