Trump-targeted GOP congressman Massie tours his Kentucky district with support from Sen. Rand Paul

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SHELBYVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky has enlisted help from a key ally, Sen. Rand Paul, as the maverick congressman tries to fend off President Donald Trump's threats to oust him from Congress.

Massie is running headlong into his toughest political fight as a super PAC launched by Trump aides attacks him and he awaits a potential challenge from someone backed by the president. Massie has drawn the president's wrath for opposing him on budget and foreign policy issues but is betting that Kentuckians will embrace his independent streak despite Trump's popularity in the Bluegrass State.

Massie on Thursday was wrapping up a two-day swing through his district alongside Paul, who has endorsed the congressman and shares Massie's libertarian leanings. Massie says Paul's endorsement offers "a counterbalance to Donald Trump’s presumed endorsement for somebody else.”

Accustomed to winning by lopsided margins, Massie became the first Republican incumbent in Congress to be targeted for defeat by Trump and his political team in the 2026 midterm election. He's about eight months away from the GOP primary, which takes place in May.

“Here’s what’s certain — if I just give up, I will lose,” Massie said in an interview this week. “But the thing is, I never give up. And people know that.”

Whoever wins the Republican nomination will be heavily favored in the November general election in a district last represented by a Democrat two decades ago.

Both Massie and Paul have reputations for standing up to their party leaders in Washington, a dynamic that Paul said puts them in good standing with voters back home.

“I think there's a difference between Kentucky and D.C.,” Paul told reporters Wednesday. “'Oh, Thomas Massie or Rand Paul are unpopular in D.C.' Well, that's why we're popular at home because people aren't very happy with what's going on in Washington.”

So far, a handful of candidates besides Massie have filed with the Federal Election Commission for the campaign in Kentucky's 4th District. They include Republicans Niki Lee Ethington and Robert Wells and Democrats Elizabeth Mason-Hill and Jesse Brewer.

Massie's up-and-down relationship with Trump took another plunge this year. The congressman opposed the massive tax and spending cuts package that Trump calls “beautiful" but Massie says will grow the national debt and hurt the economy. Massie drew Trump's wrath for saying the president lacked authority to attack Iran’s nuclear sites without congressional approval. And Massie has been at the forefront of efforts to force the public release of case files on the sex trafficking probe into the late Jeffrey Epstein.

Trump unleashed on Massie this summer on his social media platform.

“Thomas Massie, the worst Republican Congressman, and an almost guaranteed NO VOTE each and every time, is an Embarrassment to Kentucky. He’s lazy, slow moving, and totally disingenuous - A real loser! Never has anything positive to add. Looking for someone good to run against this guy, someone I can Endorse and vigorously campaign for!”

Massie said there's more at stake than his own future — the role of Congress to check presidential powers and for its GOP members to cast votes contrary to Trump's wishes without fear of retribution.

“This race is a referendum on whether somebody can be independent within the Republican Party," Massie said in the interview. “And a lot of my colleagues are watching this race. They ask me every week how it’s going."

He said Trump's attacks on him are intended to keep his Republican colleagues in line.

Bracing for a strong primary challenge, Massie has ramped up fundraising. He's averaged a half-million dollars in donations per quarter this year, he said, amassing more in a quarter than he typically raised in two years. In his own early ad, Massie said he's being attacked for “holding the Washington machine accountable” and defiantly proclaimed: "I'm not folding, I'm fighting. And I'm just getting started.”

The MIT-educated Massie entered Congress in late 2012. He represents a conservative district stretching across northern Kentucky that includes a mix of rural and suburban voters.

Massie's reputation as a contrarian willing to buck GOP leaders goes back years. In 2020, during Trump's first term, he tried to stall a COVID-19 relief package. Trump berated him then as a “third rate Grandstander” who should be tossed from the GOP. The smackdown was a bump in the road for Massie, who cruised to reelection. In 2022, Trump endorsed Massie, calling him a “Conservative Warrior” and a “first-rate Defender of the Constitution.”

“People remember that, and they know that sometimes people get on his bad side and sometimes they’re on his good side,” Massie said.

In the same interview, Massie found a way to attack a candidate who remains hypothetical at this point.

“If they try to recruit a candidate who’s politically aware, politically astute and they have existing political capital and name ID, they’re not willing to risk it on the long odds of beating me," Massie said. "And then if you find a candidate who doesn’t have any political capital and hasn’t been paying attention, they’re probably not a very good candidate.”

Todd McMurtry, who lost to Massie in the 2020 Republican primary, describes him as an “obstructionist who has accomplished next to nothing.” He said a strong challenger can unseat him but it won't be easy.

“I am certain whoever runs against him will get roughed up,” McMurtry said Wednesday in an email.

Trey Grayson, a former GOP Kentucky secretary of state, said Massie's willingness to oppose Trump's priorities when they conflict with his own principles cuts both ways. It will cost him with voters who want a stronger voice for Trump but appeals to voters who appreciate his focus on cutting federal spending and bringing greater transparency to the Epstein case.

“I’ve always been more bullish on Massie’s reelection chances than most,” Grayson said by email Wednesday. “The fact that, after months of recruiting, no meaningful challenger has stepped up, has only reinforced my views about Massie’s reelection chances.”