Trump-targeted GOP congressman Massie tours his Kentucky district with support from Sen. Paul

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SHELBYVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky has enlisted help from a key ally, Sen. Rand Paul, as the maverick congressman tries to fend off President Donald Trump's threats to oust him from Congress.

Massie is running headlong into his toughest political fight as a super PAC launched by Trump aides attacks him and he awaits a potential challenge from someone backed by the president. Massie has drawn the president's wrath for opposing him on budget and foreign policy issues but is betting that Kentuckians will embrace his independent streak despite Trump's popularity in the Bluegrass State.

Massie on Thursday wrapped up a two-day swing through his district alongside Paul, who has endorsed the congressman and shares Massie's libertarian leanings. Massie says Paul's endorsement offers "a counterbalance to Donald Trump’s presumed endorsement for somebody else.”

Speaking to an overflow crowd at a Shelbyville distillery, Massie defiantly said the attack ads against him “aren’t going to change my mind at all."

"I’m doubling down,” he said.

Massie poked fun at himself and Trump, at one point impersonating the president's voice when recounting a conversation between them. The congressman added that "he’s probably the best president we’ve had in my lifetime.”

“But if I think he’s wrong on policy, or if I think one of his cabinet members has misled him on policy, and they want us to vote on something … I will speak up if I don’t think it’s following the Constitution,” he said.

Greg Hunt, a Massie supporter at the event, said he likes that independent streak.

“Upsetting the apple cart is, in my opinion, not a bad thing,” Hunt said. “I would like to see a little more cohesion within the party, but I don't want group think, either. So I'm glad that he stands up and voices his opinion.”

Accustomed to winning by lopsided margins, Massie became the first Republican incumbent in Congress to be targeted for defeat by Trump and his political team in the 2026 midterm elections. Kentucky's primaries take place in May.

Whoever wins the Republican nomination will be heavily favored in the November general election in a district last represented by a Democrat two decades ago.

Both Massie and Paul have reputations for standing up to party leaders in Washington, a dynamic that Paul said puts them in good standing with voters back home.

“I think there's a difference between Kentucky and D.C.,” Paul said Wednesday. “'Oh, Thomas Massie or Rand Paul are unpopular in D.C.' Well, that's why we're popular at home because people aren't very happy with what's going on in Washington.”

So far, a handful of candidates besides Massie have filed with the Federal Election Commission for the campaign in Kentucky's 4th District — though none has received the backing of Trump or his political operation.

Trump aides are in no rush to put their firepower behind a candidate and see no reason to give Massie an opponent to attack for months, according to a Trump political adviser, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the internal dynamics of the race.

Massie has said he intends to file for reelection but also has openly talked about running for the Senate instead of his congressional seat. That would be contingent on former state Attorney General Daniel Cameron dropping his own Senate bid and running for Massie's seat, an option Cameron's campaign has rejected. Paul on Thursday expressed his own doubt about such a scenario for Massie, saying: “I don’t think he’s going to get in the Senate race. I think he’s going to stay in the House race."

Paul said Massie would have a big lead against anyone joining the House race.

“The rallies that we've had, all the support from the state legislators, to me shows that it will be very hard to run against him,” the senator said.

Massie's up-and-down relationship with Trump took another plunge this year. The congressman opposed the massive tax breaks and spending cuts package that Trump calls “beautiful" but Massie says will grow the national debt and hurt the economy. Massie drew Trump's wrath for saying the president lacked authority to attack Iran’s nuclear sites without congressional approval. And Massie has been at the forefront of efforts to force the public release of case files on the sex trafficking probe into the late Jeffrey Epstein.

Trump unleashed on Massie this summer on his social media platform.

“Thomas Massie, the worst Republican Congressman, and an almost guaranteed NO VOTE each and every time, is an Embarrassment to Kentucky. He’s lazy, slow moving, and totally disingenuous - A real loser! Never has anything positive to add. Looking for someone good to run against this guy, someone I can Endorse and vigorously campaign for!”

Massie said there's more at stake than his own future — the role of Congress to check presidential powers without fear of retribution.

“This race is a referendum on whether somebody can be independent within the Republican Party," Massie said in an interview. “And a lot of my colleagues are watching this race. They ask me every week how it’s going."

He said Trump's attacks on him are intended to keep his Republican colleagues in line.

Bracing for a strong primary challenge, Massie has ramped up fundraising. He's averaged a half-million dollars in donations per quarter this year, he said, amassing more in a quarter than he typically raised in two years.

The MIT-educated Massie entered Congress in 2012. He represents a conservative district stretching across northern Kentucky that includes rural and suburban voters.

Massie's reputation as a contrarian willing to buck GOP leaders goes back years. In 2020, during Trump's first term, he tried to stall a COVID-19 relief package. Trump berated him then as a “third rate Grandstander” who should be tossed from the GOP. The smackdown was a bump in the road for Massie, who cruised to reelection. In 2022, Trump endorsed Massie, calling him a “Conservative Warrior” and a “first-rate Defender of the Constitution.”

“People remember that, and they know that sometimes people get on his bad side and sometimes they’re on his good side,” Massie said.

In the same interview, Massie found a way to attack a candidate who remains hypothetical at this point.

“If they try to recruit a candidate who’s politically aware, politically astute and they have existing political capital and name ID, they’re not willing to risk it on the long odds of beating me," Massie said. "And then if you find a candidate who doesn’t have any political capital and hasn’t been paying attention, they’re probably not a very good candidate.”

___ Associated Press writer Jill Colvin in New York contributed reporting.