Big Update Before Thomas Massie’s GOP Primary

Rep. Thomas Massie made a last-minute appeal to Kentucky Republicans on Tuesday morning, defending his record and insisting that his campaign is not a referendum against President Donald Trump.

During an appearance on Fox’s “America’s Newsroom,” Massie was pressed on how he is navigating a competitive primary while publicly differing with President Trump on several high-profile issues.

“No, I’m not running against President Trump,” Massie said.

“Most of the people voting for me support President Trump like I do,” he added, pointing to backing from pro-life advocates, Second Amendment organizations, local officials, state lawmakers, and members of Congress who have endorsed his reelection campaign.

President Trump has endorsed Ed Gallrein, a former Navy SEAL who is challenging Massie in the Republican primary.

Massie, who has long styled himself as a constitutional conservative and fiscal hawk, also defended his vote against the GOP’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Asked how he explains that decision to voters, Massie argued that Washington’s habit of cramming numerous priorities into massive legislative packages is exactly the problem.

“That’s the problem in D.C. They put everything in one giant bill,” Massie said.

“What they’re doing is they’re taking these big giant bills, which everybody hates back in America, and they’re trying to blame you for anything that’s in there. But guess what? I’m the only guy up there that didn’t vote to fund Planned Parenthood this last time,” Massie added.

“I’m the only guy up there that didn’t vote to fund that immigrant welfare fraud. They put the money back in. They’ve actually taken all the [Department of Government Efficiency] cuts out, but I’m the only one that’s sticking with DOGE and sticking with the people back home,” he continued.

Massie said the political game in Washington is designed to punish lawmakers who refuse to support bloated omnibus-style bills, even when they back conservative priorities as standalone measures.

He added that “if you ever vote against it, they can say that you voted against everything. The reality is, I voted for the Save Act when it comes up individually. I voted for border control, DHS, the wall, all of the things that the president wants.”

The Kentucky race comes as Republicans nationally appear to be entering the midterm cycle with a far stronger financial machine than in previous years.

Republican National Committee Chairman Joe Gruters said this week that the GOP may either match or surpass Democrats in spending this cycle, a major shift from past elections when Democrats frequently benefited from a large fundraising advantage.

During an appearance on Breitbart, Gruters described an increasingly coordinated conservative operation and argued that Democrats are facing serious financial pressure.

Host Mike Slater asked Gruters to explain the scale of the reported $70 million Democrats spent in Virginia’s recent redistricting fight.

“How much money is that for the parties?” Slater asked.

Gruters responded by contrasting the Democratic Party’s position with the broader Republican fundraising network.

“The DNC has minus 4 million [dollars], and it wasn’t the DNC that plowed $70 million: It was the collective,” Gruters said.

“So, if you look at the collective on the right, we may have $800 million,” he continued.

“The collective on the left may have $350 million, and when you have the court, there’s gonna be a court case that is ruled on in the next week or two, coordinated campaign limits, which will magnify that, which will allow full coordination and allow the parties to spend at the candidate rate, which is massive for us,” he said.

Gruters argued that Republicans may be positioned for a historic financial advantage, especially if legal developments expand coordination between party committees and candidates.

“When you have that financial advantage, people, you know, people don’t know that the Democrats routinely spend more than us on election cycles, because they have more massive donors and that will write massive checks,” he said.

“But this time, this cycle [we] will either spend a parity or will outspend them, and that’s never happened before,” he added.

According to Gruters, the RNC itself is in a far stronger position than the Democratic National Committee. He said the RNC currently has “about $125 million” on hand, while describing the DNC as having negative cash reserves.

Gruters also pointed to Republican-aligned campaign arms and outside groups as evidence that the broader conservative movement is entering the cycle with unusual unity.

“Our Republican National Senatorial Committee, let’s say, has $80 million. House committee has $80 million,” he said.

“Then you have conservative groups out there like MAGA Inc. … you got to think about, we are completely united in our efforts to hold the majority,” he added.

The comments highlight a larger political reality for Republicans: while intraparty fights like the Massie primary continue to test the boundaries of Trump-era conservatism, the national GOP appears increasingly focused on holding its governing coalition together, protecting its majorities, and using its financial momentum to confront Democrats in the next election cycle.