By McKenna Horsley
Kentucky Lantern
The plot thickened as billionaire Elon Musk waded into the drama between President Donald Trump and defiant Kentucky Republican U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie.
Musk promised Monday evening to help Massie fend off any Republican primary challenger recruited by Trump, who is vowing to unseat Massie next year.
Massie most recently drew Trump’s wrath by opposing his bombing of Iran and before that voting against the mega-bill that supporters say delivers on the president’s campaign promises, though clashes between Massie and Trump date back to Trump’s first term.
And Massie is not the only Kentucky Republican who has defied Trump and party leaders by voting against the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
Even after a round of golf with the president on Saturday, Sen. Rand Paul voted against starting debate on the bill and on Tuesday against the bill itself, which required a tiebreaking vote by Vice President JD Vance to squeak out of the Republican-controlled Senate.
In a Republican Party that has fallen in lockstep behind Trump and a state that Trump has easily carried three times, Paul and Massie face political risks by getting on the wrong side of Trump and his MAGA
base.
Political observers in Kentucky say the two may get away with it, however, because they are coming from Trump’s right on questions of government spending and fiscal responsibility and because they are viewed as acting on principle.
Stephen Voss, a political science professor at the University of Kentucky, said Paul, Massie and Musk “have been motivated by a right-leaning libertarianism that shows up in their politics regularly.”
“It’s a matter of principle that separates them from other Republicans and having Republican President Donald Trump dive so thoroughly into a big government, strong presidency, model of leadership cuts against the principles of all three of those men.”
Massie, an MIT-educated engineer who served as Lewis County judge-executive, was elected to Congress in 2012. His 4th Congressional District stretches from Ashland in the Appalachian hills westward along the Ohio River to the conservative suburbs of Northern Kentucky and Louisville.
Trump’s political operation has $500 million ready to bolster — or punish — Republicans heading into midterm elections. A Trump-affiliated political action committee, MAGA Kentucky, launched a $1 million ad buy against Massie last week, Axios reports. Ahead of the ad buy, Trump took to Truth Social to say Massie “is not MAGA, even though he likes to say he is” and vowed to campaign in Kentucky for “a wonderful American Patriot” candidate against the congressman.
Trump’s candidate has yet to emerge, but first-term Republican state Sen. Aaron Reed of Shelby County has been mentioned as a possibility in some political circles.
Musk to Massie: ‘You’re awesome’
On Monday, Musk, who has been publicly feuding with the president over the GOP domestic policy bill, waded into the fray, saying on his social media platform X that he would support Massie. Moments before Musk had vowed that Republicans “who campaigned on reducing government spending and then immediately voted for the biggest debt increase in history” would “lose their primary next year if it is the last thing I do on this Earth.”
The congressman welcomed Musk’s support by sharing a Fox News article about the post Tuesday morning, to which Musk replied, “You’re awesome.”
Voss said it may become “a Trump versus Musk proxy war in Northern Kentucky,” though both men have a tendency to “jump from controversy to controversy.”
If attention on the primary blows over by next year, Massie could have an easier time keeping his job, Voss said, but “he may have other ambitions than merely keeping his job.”
“Thomas Massie has become a household name in a way few members of the House of Representatives get to be,” Voss said. “The fame and notoriety he’s getting might put his current seat in greater jeopardy, but it opens up lots of opportunities.”
For Republicans hoping to position themselves as the future of their party, particularly if Trump’s popularity with voters dwindles and the GOP takes losses in midterm elections, “being on the side of the GOP that resisted Trump can start to pay off.”
“Right now, going against Trump is the kiss of death, but that may change,” Voss said.
At least one Republican in Congress, North Carolina Republican U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis, said he won’t seek reelection after voting against Trump’s bill. Tillis’ opposition stemmed from the bill’s funding cuts which he said would force “painful decisions” about Medicaid and hurt his state.
In contrast, Massie and Paul objected to the bill because it will send federal deficits soaring.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office released a calculation Sunday showing the Senate version of the bill would add $3.25 trillion to federal budget deficits over 10 years.
Tres Watson, a political consultant and former spokesperson for the Republican Party of Kentucky, said Massie’s 2026 primary is “definitely going to be a fight” especially with Musk’s interest in the race. Watson added that the endorsements of Trump and Musk might have less impact on the contest than the resources each could put behind a candidate.
Watson said Massie has a strong set of beliefs and he will vote for them “whether that puts him in very awkward positions with very awkward bedfellows or not.” As a fiscally conservative, libertarian Republican, “he’s going to be against this bill.”
Paul is similar to Massie but “occasionally will play ball a little bit more,” Watson said. Paul and Trump likely developed rapport during the 2016 campaign, “whereas Massie has kind of always been a thorn in Trump’s side dating back to the first administration.”
Paul hasn’t faced Trump’s wrath like Massie has.
Musk’s involvement could also mean the primary will be quite expensive. Groups affiliated with Musk spent nearly $20 million backing a conservative candidate in the Wisconsin Supreme Court election earlier this year, according to media reports. Musk also gave the state Republican Party $2 million. Despite all that, Musk’s candidate lost.
Massie thanked Musk Tuesday from his campaign account on X, adding Musk’s purchase of X, formerly Twitter, and making it the “platform for free speech has already helped my cause immensely,” allowing the congressman to “bypass conventional media to refute the lies of both political parties and to provide transparency about how Congress works and what’s actually inside of the bills we vote on.”
Massie said opposing the megabill and the Iran strikes “recently earned me the ire of the swamp and a fight for my re-election,” but the race is instead “a referendum on whether members of Congress can think and act independently based on what’s best for the country, or whether all members of congress must be reduced to rubber stamps for their respective political parties and swampy special interests.”
“I’m extremely thankful to have Elon Musk’s financial assistance to continue my mission as an independent voice in Congress for my constituents,” Massie wrote.
Kentucky Lantern is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Kentucky Lantern maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jamie Lucke for questions: info@kentuckylantern.com.