Massie’s boots – Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) was defeated in Kentucky’s 4th Congressional District Republican primary by Ed Gallrein, a former Navy SEAL backed by President Donald Trump. Soon after, Indiana Rep. Erin Houchin posted on X celebrating the news with Trump, and Mass
It took just a few hours for the victory to turn into something personal.
After Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) lost his bid for reelection in Tuesday’s Republican primary for Kentucky’s 4th Congressional District. his defeat was quickly celebrated by GOP colleagues—most visibly Indiana Rep. Erin Houchin. Houchin posted a photo of herself with President Donald Trump on X. writing that she was “happy to deliver the news” of Massie’s loss and congratulating Gallrein.
Massie’s reply came shortly after midnight, delivered with the kind of jab that makes Washington look less like policy and more like a knife fight. “How do his boots taste?” he wrote, referencing Houchin’s post.
By Wednesday afternoon, the comment had drawn more than 29,000 likes on X, while Houchin’s original post had just over 840 likes.
The primary itself ended a long run for Massie. A seven-term congressman, he was defeated by Ed Gallrein, a former Navy SEAL recruited by Trump to challenge him. Gallrein’s win also landed with particular satisfaction among Trump-aligned Republicans. who saw Massie’s exit as proof that their effort to push out dissenters could work.
Massie, however, has spent years thumbing his nose at Trump’s agenda. In the lead-up to Tuesday’s election. he voted against Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill. spoke out in opposition to U.S. military forays into Iran and Venezuela. and pushed his own insistence on the Justice Department’s release of the Jeffrey Epstein files.
During his concession speech after the loss, Massie accused Fox News of keeping him off the air in hopes of placating Trump. He later took a dig at the president’s controversial White House ballroom project.
He also made clear he wasn’t eager to move on quickly. Massie joked that he would’ve conceded earlier, but that “it took a while to find Ed Gallrein in Tel Aviv,” pointing to campaign contributions given to his opponent by the Republican Jewish Coalition PAC.
The political stakes were already high before any of the online barbs. The race between Gallrein and Massie was the most expensive House primary in U.S. history, and it was widely described as a test of how much sway Trump still holds inside the Republican Party—despite abysmal poll numbers.
Gallrein’s win came amid a wave of results for Trump-endorsed candidates sweeping to victory this week. But the question for Republicans now is how far that momentum will travel.
Political experts are divided on whether Trump’s grip on the GOP will keep paying off in this year’s midterms. Many argue that the president’s emphasis on ousting Republicans like Massie—who have repeatedly criticized him—has not done much to win over independents. who will be critical to how the party fares against Democrats this fall.
Thomas Massie Ed Gallrein Erin Houchin Donald Trump Kentucky 4th congressional district Republican primary Justice Department Epstein files Big Beautiful Bill White House ballroom project Republican Jewish Coalition PAC Fox News