President Trump claimed his latest political scalp Tuesday night after Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) lost his hotly contested House primary to the commander-in-chief’s hand-picked challenger, Ed Gallrein.

Gallrein, a Trump-backed farmer and retired Navy SEAL, triumphed over Massie by about 10 percentage points in the Bluegrass State’s Fourth Congressional District race, which will go down as the most expensive primary race in US history, with more than $32 million spent on political ads.

“For the same reason I entered as a Navy SEAL officer in 1983, because I had the audacity to think I could make a difference,” Gallrein said in a speech after winning. “I will serve this district, my party and my nation with that same audacity.”

Trump repeatedly urged his supporters to oust Massie, an MIT-educated, seven-term congressman, after he broke with the president on key votes and led the charge to release the files on the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Rep. Thomas Massie speaks after losing the Republican party’s nomination during an election night watch party at the Marriott Cincinnati Airport, Tuesday, May 19, 2026, in Hebron, Ky.AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster

Massie’s defeat came on the heels of Trump’s successful intervention in the Louisiana Republican Senate primary against Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), who had voted to convict the 45th president following his impeachment for incitement of insurrection following the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.

The president also successfully exacted revenge earlier this month against a slate of incumbent Republican state senators in Indiana, who torpedoed a redistricting push in the Hoosier state.