Kentucky — 4th District

Thomas Massie won’t be on the ballot this November, but his voters could still shape Kentucky’s 4th Congressional District race. Nearly 48,000 Republicans backed Massie in his May primary loss to Ed Gallrein. Democrat Melissa Strange and Libertarian Jeremy Todd are trying to persuade some of those voters to cross party lines rather than support Gallrein. The contentious May primary, which Gallrein won 57,822 to 47,539, drew national attention and set a new congressional spending record. The campaigns and aligned super PACs spent about $37 million on the race, making it the most expensive U.S. House primary on record. First elected in 2012, Massie had routinely cruised to reelection, building a loyal following since arriving in Congress during the Tea Party era. Trump backed Gallrein in the primary after years of increasingly public clashes with Massie over federal spending and foreign policy. Massie opposed major COVID-era spending measures on fiscal grounds and later broke with Trump over issues including the release of the Epstein files and U.S. military action against Iran. Gallrein, meanwhile, has closely aligned himself with Trump’s agenda. Strange and Todd are now trying to capitalize on some of the divisions exposed by the Republican primary. Strange, a political newcomer, told LINK nky she had personally heard from former Massie voters who are considering voting for a Democrat for the first time. Strange said many of the Massie voters she’s spoken with share her concerns on affordability and housing availability, along with growing concerns over Flock cameras and data center construction. “They want to know more about me, because usually there are things where they may not agree on everything, but they can see enough similarities or enough pieces of where I stand on issues that they feel like they can find me as an acceptable alternative to Mr. Gallrein,” Strange said. In addition, Strange said some Massie supporters felt burned by the contentious primary, which at times became deeply personal. She noted that these voters were not suddenly embracing the Democratic Party but were looking to her as an alternative to Gallrein and weighing the issues on which they may share common ground. Strange has emphasized the economy, health care, education and government accountability in her campaign. Todd has made a more explicitly libertarian pitch to disaffected Massie supporters, emphasizing limited government, federal spending and opposition to U.S. military involvement abroad. He has pointed to Massie’s willingness to break with Trump on spending and foreign policy as an area of overlap with libertarian voters. Todd, who spoke with LINK nky in June, was more explicit in his criticism of Gallrein and his surrogates, calling it a concerted behind-the-scenes effort to thwart Massie’s reelection. “Just the amount of money that was pumped in, it’s gross,” Todd said. “We need to push back against that and say, no, you cannot buy a congressional seat.”