President Donald Trump used Wednesday’s rally in northern Kentucky to promote the administration’s economic policies and trash GOP Rep. Thomas Massie, who has frequently defied the president.
Around a thousand people came to cheer the president at Verst Logistics, a packaging facility in Hebron, squarely inside Massie’s district. Trump is supporting Republican candidate and farmer Ed Gallrein to replace the 4th district congressman in the May primary.
“Thomas Massie is a disaster for our party. He comes from a state that I won by a landslide — the highest vote in the history of your commonwealth. That means the people love me and I like them,” Trump said.
Wednesday morning, Trump posted on Truth Social about his distaste for the Kentucky fiscal hawk. Massie has frequently stood in the way of Trump’s agenda in the House. He voted against Trump’s signature policy package, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, successfully pushed for the release of the Epstein files and argues that involvement in foreign conflicts — both in Venezuela and now Iran — requires congressional approval.
Trump pointed to the fact that Massie joined Democrats as the lone House Republican to vote against the enormous tax and spending policy that passed last year.
“He’s the worst person. His name is — what the hell happened, how’d he even end up in Kentucky? His name is Thomas Massie,” Trump said by way of introduction.
Massie did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but appeared on a Cincinnati-area radio station Wednesday morning and said Trump was in Kentucky in part to breathe life into Gallrein’s “lifeless” campaign.
Gallrein came on stage before Trump, pitching himself to the room as a former Navy Seal officer whom Trump had called on to “serve” the country once again.
The congressional hopeful was met with cheers as he accused Massie of being a Democrat sympathizer.
“Thomas Massie has failed the voters in this district time and time again,” Gallrein said.
Gallrein later joined Trump on stage. The president said he was looking for anyone to push Massie out of office.
“I wanted, just give me someone with a warm body to beat Massie,” Trump said. “And I got somebody with a warm body, but a big beautiful brain and a great patriot. He’s incredible.”
Attendees like Janice Sewell of Hebron told Kentucky Public Radio they were disappointed in Massie and would vote for the Trump-endorsed candidate, although they didn’t know much about Gallrein yet.
“I think he’s a disgrace. He should be a registered Democrat,” Sewell said of Massie.
Joel, her brother who said he preferred not to share his last name, said he came despite getting throat surgery four days earlier. Speaking in a whisper, Joel said he would probably vote against Massie “no matter what” because he doesn’t trust the Republican who has served the district since 2012 despite voting for him in 2024.
“He really let me down,” Joel said. “He voted against Trump too much.”
Trump hasn’t held an event in Kentucky in years — his last appearance was at the 2022 Kentucky Derby.
Trump and his PACs have actively poured millions of dollars into ad campaigns against Massie ahead of the midterms. But Massie remains popular in the northern Kentucky district. In September last year, Massie and Sen. Rand Paul, who has also defied the president regularly, toured northern Kentucky and drew crowds of enthusiastic supporters at community forums and campaign events.
Senate candidates vie for attention in the background
Candidates in Kentucky’s U.S. Senate race to replace outgoing Sen. Mitch McConnell continued to vie for Trump’s endorsement as well. Signage for Congressman Andy Barr, former Attorney General Daniel Cameron and Lexington businessman Nate Morris lined the drives leading up to the warehouse where the president spoke.
All three candidates were in the crowd Wednesday — as of yet, none have secured the coveted endorsement though all declare themselves to be an America First Trump conservative.
Several of the Trump supporters who attended the rally told Kentucky Public Radio that they would support whichever candidate Trump told them to.
“Whatever he endorses is fine with me,” said John Hood, who lives in Lexington.
The president distinctly did not offer favoritism in the Senate race. He made mention of each of the three leading Senate candidates, although not in the context of the contest.
Trump boasts about economy, defends Iran war
Trump focused the first half of his speech on economic gains, touting new investments in Kentucky manufacturing, like the GE reshoring announcement and Apple’s decision to bring all iPhone glass production to a Kentucky factory.
“After so many years of politicians who sold out the working men and women of our country, we finally have a president who puts American workers first,” Trump said.
He also celebrated his military intervention in Iran, saying he believes the conflict was essentially won almost immediately, but that he also wouldn’t want to leave too soon.
“As we end this threat to America and this threat to the world, we don’t want to leave early do we? We gotta finish the job, right?” Trump asked.
Tanya Murphy was the first person in line for the rally, waiting through pouring rain and a tornado watch, to enter the warehouse where Trump would later speak.
Murphy, who drove three and a half hours from Owensboro, said she had never been to a Trump rally before. She said Trump is “the greatest president ever.”
“Quit taking everything overseas, bring jobs back to us and our people, let our kids grow up in the America that we had as children,” Murphy said.
Several blocks away from the rally, a small group of local progressive activists gathered in the parking lot of a Kroger — there is little public parking near the warehouse itself. They carried signs and protested on nearby sidewalks. Protesters told Kentucky Public Radio they took issue with the president’s mass deportation agenda and that they believed he should be investigated for his connections to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
