Former Navy SEAL launches Trump-backed Kentucky primary challenge against Massie

FIRST ON FOX — A former Navy SEAL and fifth-generation Kentucky farmer backed by President Donald Trump announced his candidacy in the state’s 4th Congressional District on Tuesday, challenging Republican Rep. Thomas Massie in next year’s GOP primary.

“I have dedicated my life to serving my country and I am ready to answer the call again,” Ed Gallrein said in a statement first shared with Fox News Digital.

Gallrein pointed to Massie, a frequent GOP critic of the president during his second term in the White House, emphasizing: “This district is Trump’s country. The president doesn’t need obstacles in Congress — he needs support. I will defeat Thomas Massie, stand shoulder to shoulder with President Trump, and deliver the America First results Kentuckians voted for.”

The launch of the campaign comes four days after Trump took to social media to praise Gallrein, encourage her to run and blast Massie.

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Trump argued that Massie was a “Third Class Congressman,” a “Weak and Pathetic RINO,” and a “totally ineffective LOSER who has failed us so much.”

And the president applauded Gallrein, calling him a “Brave Battle Veteran” and a “highly successful Businessman” who, if elected to Congress, “will fight tirelessly to keep our now very secure Border SAFE, to Stop Immigrant Crime, and to Defend the ever-beleaguered Second Amendment.”

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Trump’s social media post It included a photo of him and Gallrein holding red MAGA hats in the Oval Office.

Gallrein served in uniform for thirty years and rose to the rank of Captain. He served multiple tours of duty with SEAL Team SIX, serving in Panama, Afghanistan and Iraq, earning four Bronze Stars and two Presidential Unit Citations, according to his campaign biography.

Ed Gallrein (left) is seen with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office at the White House on Tuesday; He launched a congressional bid to challenge Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky. Gallrein’s campaign launch comes four days after Trump endorsed her and called on her to run. (Ed Gallrein congressional campaign)

The campaign statement also emphasized that “Gallrein’s roots are deep in Kentucky.” He was born and raised in the state. And his family, who have been farming for more than a century, built Gallrein Grain Farms, Kentucky’s largest dairy farm and one of the state’s largest grain operations.

Massie took aim at Gallrein following Trump’s endorsement on social media, calling him a “failed candidate and establishment hack,” pointing to Gallrein’s unsuccessful run for the state Senate last year.

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“Trump’s advisors clearly hit the panic button by favoring failed candidate and establishment hack Ed Gallrein after he was rejected by every elected official in the 4th District,” Massie said in a statement. he said. to Politico. “Ed has been begging them to cast him for over three months.”

Trump had begun targeting Massie for impeachment earlier this year over his opposition to the seven-term lawmaker’s “One Big Beautiful Bill,” which passed the GOP-controlled Congress almost entirely along party lines in early summer. The GOP’s far-reaching mega-bill is the president’s biggest legislative achievement since returning to the White House.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) speaks with Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) during a press conference with alleged victims of disgraced financier and sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein outside the U.S. Capitol on September 3, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Massie is also leading the push, along with Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of California, to force a House vote to release the Justice Department’s files on convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein; It’s a move that the White House and House GOP leaders aim to counter. Massie is on the verge of reaching the 218 signatures needed to mandate a vote.

Two top Trump political advisers — 2024 co-campaign manager Chris LaCivita and pollster Tony Fabrizio — launched a super PAC aimed at defeating Massie in June. Nearly $2 million has already been spent airing TV ads targeting Massie.

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But Massie used attacks from Trump and his allies to boost fundraising, raising more than $750,000 in the final three months, the best fundraising quarter of his congressional career.

Massie County, in the northeastern part of the state, includes the eastern suburbs of Louisville and the Kentucky suburbs of Cincinnati.