While most congressional Republicans have been in lockstep with President Donald Trump this year, the glaring exceptions are both from Kentucky — Congressman Thomas Massie and Sen. Rand Paul.
Trump has been particularly angered by Massie, who on social media often displays his defiance of the president on fiscal conservative and constitutional grounds.
Trump has called for Massie to be primaried next year, while a PAC formed by his campaign advisors has spent more than $2 million on attack ads against him this summer.
With those attack ads still airing in his district, the two lawmakers teamed up Wednesday for a six-stop tour through Massie’s northern Kentucky district to defend their records and brand of conservatism that sometimes strays from Trump.
Massie and Paul have served in Congress for more than a dozen years as near ideological twins, both swept into office with the Tea Party movement and sometimes outliers with their party on spending and foreign policy.
They drove 175 miles of windy roads from morning to evening, starting with four community forums and ending with two Massie campaign events full of enthusiastic supporters.
The first stop was at a manufacturing business in Wurtland, where Paul heaped praise upon Massie that would continue for the rest of the day — calling him the best and most indispensable member of the U.S. House.
“If Thomas Massie weren't there, there would be an absence, there would be a hole in Congress that would be filled by big government, debt, more regulations,” Paul said.
Massie first drew the ire of Trump this year when he voted against the president’s “One Big Beautiful Bill,” which extended massive tax cuts and included large cuts to Medicaid, as well as new spending.
Massie told the assembled locals he stood by that vote — even though pressured by the GOP president who won his district by a landslide in three consecutive elections — because it would add trillions of dollars to the national debt.
“This is the thing that gets me in trouble sometimes,” Massie said. “We have to cut spending. I am not going to sit here and tell you we can increase spending and cut your taxes, and things will work out just fine.”
Both Massie and Paul would go on to share several other policy differences with the Trump administration throughout the day, including on the tariffs, Jeffrey Epstein, foreign policy, free speech and the potential federal government shutdown this coming week.
Their remarks provided a drastic contrast with the rhetoric and ads of the three Republican candidates currently running to fill Sen. Mitch McConnell’s open Senate seat in Kentucky. Andy Barr, Daniel Cameron and Nate Morris have turned the GOP primary into a contest of who admires and supports Trump the most, as they vie for his coveted endorsement.
And while the attack ads against Massie and social media posts from Trump have been vicious — the president called him a “pathetic loser” — Massie insists it’s nothing personal.
“I'm like Rand Paul, I support this president,” Massie said. “I think he's probably the best president we've ever had in our lifetimes. But he's not always right.”
Massie says PAC ‘wasting their money’ on attack ads
The group running more than $2 million of attack ads against Massie since June is MAGA KY, a PAC that federal records show is entirely funded by three billionaire Republican donors.
In addition to hitting Massie for his vote against the president’s signature bill, the ads have highlighted his criticism of Trump decision in June to strike nuclear facilities in Iran, stating he “sided with Democrats and the ayatollah.” The newest ad criticizes him for opposing a flag-burning ban.
Massie would reference those ads throughout the day, saying they wouldn’t persuade many.
“They're marketing to low propensity voters, and by the time the election runs around in eight months, I think all they'll remember is my name,” Massie told reporters in Wurtland. “So I think they're wasting their money right now.”
Paul also said the ads won’t gain traction, arguing that while he and Massie may be unpopular among the political elite in Washington, that’s exactly why they remain popular with constituents back home.
“Some of the ads I've seen against Thomas Massie are so absurd that they just fail on the terms of absurdness,” Paul said. “'Oh, Thomas Massie's for the Ayatollah Khomeini.' No one believes that. So when you say really stupid things, people think the people running the ads must be really stupid.”
Multiple media outlets reported in June that Trump was recruiting GOP state Sen. Aaron Reed — a past political ally of Massie — to run against him in the 2026 primary. However, three months later, there’s no sign that a bid from him or any other challenger is imminent.
Massie said after a community forum in Cynthiana that they’re having trouble finding someone to run against him because the polls still show it will be hard to beat him — even with Trump’s help.
“They're trying to look for a unicorn,” Massie said. “Somebody who's well-known but doesn't have a political voting record and has enough political acumen to win — but not enough political awareness to know that their race is long odds that they would ever have a chance of winning.”
Massie has receptions at the community forums that ranged from polite to warm, before the two boisterous campaign events in friendly territory to close the day.
In Cynthiana, the lawmakers were quizzed about their criticism of the president’s emergency tariffs by Mike Fischer, a current GOP candidate for state house and former county GOP chair, who noted that a lot of local Republicans “have a concern on your vote ‘no’ versus our president” on the Big Beautiful Bill.
After the event, Fischer said Republicans need to support the president, who he’s willing to give the benefit of the doubt on fiscal issues — at least for the time being.
“I understand their answer. I agree with their answer,” Fischer said. “I just don't know that everybody in the room agrees with their answer.”
After their community forum in Maysville, neighboring Fleming County Judge-executive John Sims — a former Democratic state legislator who turned Republican in 2020 — told Kentucky Public Radio that locals may know Massie well enough to insulate him from the ads.
“Thomas has a history of standing for his principles every time. No wavering at all,” Sims said. “I think he has a strong chance still to get reelected in this district.”
At their community forum in tiny Mt. Olivet, a few locals expressed their concerns to Massie and Paul about the congressional push for fiscal austerity, fearing that their looming Medicaid cuts could close hospitals and cuts to public broadcasting will hurt Kentucky Educational Television (KET).
However, other locals urged the fiscal conservatives to keep on cutting.
“For me, thank you for your fiscal stance in Washington, D.C.,” said one speaker, eliciting applause from a large majority of the 50-plus locals in attendance.
Massie’s push for ‘Epstein Files’ gets warm reception
At each of his stops that day, Massie brought up his efforts to force the Department of Justice and FBI to release all of their files on Jeffrey Epstein, the notorious child sex trafficker.
Massie announced that after a special election the previous day, he now has the 218 votes he needs for his discharge petition to receive a vote in the House and force the release of the files — an effort that Trump strongly opposes, calling the files a “Democratic hoax.”
The mention of his discharge petition brought applause in Cynthiana, and got maybe the biggest reaction from the crowd at his campaign events in Dry Ridge and Burlington to close the day.
His push to release the Epstein files even received praise from those who came to protest the two lawmakers.
Outside of the Cynthiana event were four protesters with local left-wing peaceful resistance groups, bearing signs for them to not just “Stand up to Facism,” but to “Release the Epstein Files.”
An organizer with Georgetown Peaceful Resistance who declined to give her name said she wanted to make sure they thanked Massie for his efforts on Epstein.
“I want him to know that even though we may not agree on most policies, I appreciate his support for the survivors,” she said. “This (agreement) is a rare occurrence, but that's okay. We can cross the aisle for certain things, can't we?”
Ken Beitler, an Air Force veteran and one of the protesters, confronted Massie as he was leaving the event and entering his vehicle.
“Mr. Massie, are we going to stand up for the oath that you and I took and defend the Constitution?” Beitler asked.
“Absolutely, the Constitution,” Massie said. “Not the flag, not the president.”
Beitler continued, saying Trump was violating multiple sections of the Constitution, with his executive actions taking away the power of Congress “by failing to let you guys make laws.”
Massie replied: “(GOP House Speaker) Mike Johnson's doing that, but not me."
The congressman also directed Epstein-related criticism to Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel. He called into doubt Patel’s claim that they don’t have any information about people who Epstein trafficked girls to, noting he’s aware of 20 names that abuse survivors said they gave to the FBI.
“It's obvious, either through errors of omission or commission, folks at the DOJ and FBI are not releasing these files,” Massie said.
Massie criticizes administration, critics on free speech
Massie also took direct aim at the administration over actions he said undermined free speech.
He called out Bondi for saying she would crack down on “hate speech” — calling that a threat to the First Amendment and directly contradictory to views of Charlie Kirk, the influential right-wing activist who was assassinated while speaking at an event earlier this month.
“I don't think there is such a thing (as hate speech),” Massie told reporters after his Maysville event. “It's protected speech is what you have.”
Massie and Paul repeatedly brought up First Amendment criticism of the former Biden administration, claiming they pressured social media companies to censor the speech of users related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
But they also added that the Trump administration is making the same errors by going after ABC late night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel, who was taken off the air after threats by Trump and Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr — before being returned to the air by ABC and local affiliates last week.
“The government should not have anything to do with the content of a comedian’s monologue," said Paul, whose criticism of the administration was cited in Kimmel’s monologue in his first show back on the air the previous night.
“I think he had a pretty good joke,” Massie added. “He said the result of this is everybody was forced to watch Jimmy Kimmel's show, and that to take attention off of this, the administration might have to release the Epstein files now.”
Massie also defended himself against the new TV attack ads highlighting his opposition to a flag-burning ban.
“That is freedom of speech, you're allowed to do that,” Massie said. “That is personal property. Now, burn my flag and I'll kick your ass.”
‘If they defeat him, they defeat all of us'
Massie’s last two stops of the day were official campaign events in friendly territory, full of supporters ready to stand with him amidst the attacks from Trump and his allies.
Nearly 100 people packed into a coffee shop in Dry Ridge that had defied Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear’s COVID-19 restrictions during the pandemic — which Massie also relished doing on the House floor.
Massie and Paul closed the day with a raucous campaign rally attended by a few hundred supporters in Burlington — the Boone County epicenter of what they call their “liberty” movement of Kentucky.
The speakers included several state legislators from the same northern Kentucky liberty movement who called Massie and Paul their ideological heroes, including state Reps. Savannah Maddox, Steven Doan, TJ Roberts, and Marianne Proctor.
Doan said that Massie set an example for them, noting that they often draw the ire of GOP leadership in Frankfort, just as Massie does in Congress.
“(Massie) is my hero,” Doan said. “And he gives me so much courage to go down in Frankfort and to do what I need to do to make sure that I can fight for you all, and that I can stand up for you.”
In Massie’s speech, he addressed the latest crisis in Congress over spending, as they must pass a spending bill into law just before midnight on Sept. 30 in order to avoid a federal government shutdown. In typical Massie fashion, he said both Democrats and Republicans were pushing for too much spending, noting he’s unlikely to join in.
“If my choices are fund Joe Biden's government for one more year, even though we won the elections, or shut it down? Shut it down!,” Massie said, to applause from the crowd.
Paul put Massie’s primary race in existential terms, calling it the biggest election in American history, “not because one vote is that important, but because if they defeat him, they're defeating all of us. The limited government movement will be defeated and (it) will just be a movement of President Trump.”
The GOP primary is still eight months away, as Trump allies continue searching for a candidate to take on Massie.
State government and politics reporting is supported in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
