Ed Gallrein, a former Navy SEAL backed by President Trump, defeated Rep. Thomas Massie in Tuesday's Republican primary in Kentucky's 4th Congressional District, ending the eight-term congressman's career and capping a primary night in which Trump scored wins or advanced preferred candidates across Alabama, Georgia, Idaho, Kentucky, Oregon and Pennsylvania.

The result confirmed a pattern that has defined the 2026 primary season: Republican voters, when pressed by Trump, have consistently chosen the president's preferred candidate over incumbents who crossed him. Massie, who opposed Trump's signature tax legislation, voted against U.S. aid to Israel and championed the release of Jeffrey Epstein files over the president's initial objection, became the most prominent casualty yet. His defeat adds to a mounting toll that already includes Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, who finished third in his own primary last Saturday, and a group of Indiana state Republicans ousted earlier this month.

What shifted

The race was called Tuesday night, less than two hours after the first polls closed. Massie was trailing Gallrein by nearly nine percentage points at the time. The two candidates had spent more than $32.6 million on advertising, according to AdImpact, making it the most expensive U.S. House primary in history. Pro-Israel interest groups, including the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, provided roughly half the money benefiting Gallrein's campaign — a factor Massie had sought to highlight in the final days of the race.

"The worst Congressman in the long and storied history of the Republican Party, is Thomas Massie. He is an obstructionist and a fool," Trump wrote on Truth Social the day before the vote. Asked about Massie's defeat Tuesday night, Trump told reporters: "He was a bad guy. He deserves to lose."

Massie, in a concession speech that stretched well past midnight, was unrepentant. He quipped that the race "went on longer than Vietnam" and warned his supporters: "If the legislative branch always votes with the president, we do have a king." He also took a pointed jab at his successor, saying he would have come out sooner "but I had to call my opponent and concede, and it took a while to find Ed Gallrein in Tel Aviv."

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had traveled to the district on Monday to campaign for Gallrein, arguing the challenger would provide the kind of loyalty Massie refused to offer. "When the movement needs unity, especially at the biggest moments, Massie is willing to vote with Democrats," Hegseth said. The Defense Department said Hegseth was acting in his "personal capacity" and that the appearance had been "thoroughly vetted and cleared by lawyers" — though the visit marked a sharp break from the longstanding practice of Cabinet officials avoiding partisan activities.

Broader sweep

Beyond Kentucky, Trump flexed his influence elsewhere Tuesday. He endorsed Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton over incumbent GOP Sen. John Cornyn, a late-breaking intervention that scrambled the Texas Senate race a week before its runoff. In Georgia's governor's race, Trump-backed Lt. Gov. Burt Jones and billionaire Rick Jackson — who spent more than $83 million of his own money — advanced to a June 16 runoff after no candidate secured a majority. In Alabama, Trump backed Rep. Barry Moore for the Senate seat being vacated by Tommy Tuberville, who is running for governor, though primary confusion following last week's redistricting ruling left more than 100,000 votes in four congressional districts potentially uncounted.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, seen as a likely 2028 presidential contender, demonstrated parallel political strength: the four Democratic congressional candidates he endorsed all won their primaries Tuesday.

The counterpoint

Not every Republican celebrated Tuesday's results. Sen. Jerry Moran of Kansas told Semafor that Trump's decision to back Paxton over Cornyn left him unsettled. "It saddened me," Moran said. "I don't know what you can complain about on John Cornyn, he's such a significant part of what we're able to get done here." Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska warned that the Texas seat was now "far more at risk" with Paxton as the nominee. Even on the Massie front, former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Trump ally, declared that "the future of the Republican Party was destroyed" by the result, saying that she and Massie's push to release the Epstein files had been "our demise." Vice President JD Vance, defending the Paxton endorsement, offered a candid framing of the loyalty standard: "When it really counted, Ken Paxton was there for the country, was there for the president" — an acknowledgment that the test, as Semafor noted, is not applied evenly across the caucus.

Massie will remain in Congress until January, and without a primary to worry about, he told reporters last week that he now has a freer hand than ever to antagonize Trump. The Georgia governor's runoff is set for June 16, and the Texas Senate runoff takes place next week — the first major test of whether Trump's endorsement of Paxton can overcome what Sen. Lindsey Graham estimated would be a race three times costlier to defend than one with Cornyn on the ballot.