Thomas Massie files to run in 2028 after losing to Trump pick Ed Gallrein

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Kentucky conservative says ‘I haven’t made a final decision about which office to seek, if I run’

Thomas Massie is planning his comeback.

The conservative Kentucky congressman filed to run again for the US House of Representatives in 2028, less than a week after losing to Donald Trump’s hand-picked challenger Ed Gallrein 55-45 in a bruising primary.

The US president celebrated last week as Massie – a Republican thorn in his side – became the latest to be ousted from office by his political operation. “He deserves to lose,” claimed Trump.

But Massie, who has seven months left in Congress, has made clear he plans to remain engaged.

“I filed with FEC for the 2028 House race,” he wrote on social media on Monday. “This allows me to raise funds to continue my political operations supporting my position as a current office holder and as a potential candidate for federal office. I haven’t made a final decision about which office to seek, if I run.”

Discussion has emerged about Massie’s potential as a US presidential candidate in a post-Trump political environment, despite his loss last Tuesday.

A stalwart of the House Freedom Caucus, Massie broke rank with Trump just a few months into the president’s second term. Massie criticized the administration’s tariff regime and spending, and was one of only two house Republicans who voted against Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Massie was a co-author of legislation that forced the Department of Justice to disgorge the Epstein Files, linked to the convicted sex offender and disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.

Massie – who was defeated by challenger Ed Gallrein last week – represents a generally conservative district of northern Kentucky that covers the suburbs of Louisville and Cincinnati. Even by modern political standards, the contest was fiercely fought. Massie sharply criticized the use of AI in political advertising in the race, in which one ad realistically depicted him accompanying two female Democratic leaders into a hotel room.

The race became the most expensive House primary battle in history. Reporters from WLKY in Louisville noted that more than 94% of the money spent both to unseat Massie and to defend him came from outside the state, with Massie’s opposition fueled by billionaire donors and Pacs associated with the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee.

“They couldn’t buy my vote in 14 years, so they bought this seat,” Massie said of his loss on NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday. “This was the most expensive race in congressional primary history and at the end of this race we were spending more per day, my side and the opposing side, we were spending more per day than most entire congressional races are spent for the entire cycle.”

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