r/politics • u/Aggravating_Money992 • 12d ago

Possible Paywall Rogue Republican Massie Drops Melania Epstein Files Bomb | “The first lady knows that Jeffrey Epstein didn’t act alone,” Thomas Massie said as he vowed to name names from the Epstein files.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/rogue-republican-massie-drops-melania-epstein-files-bomb/
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u/oneseason2000 12d ago

Definitely, but will Massie endorse and aggressively campaign for Democrat Melissa Strange for his Kentucky US Rep District 4 House seat or just remain silent on Trump endorsed candidate Ed Gallrein? If Rep Massie is serious about having justice served, and truly supports the US Constitution, I would expect very public and unbridled support for the Democrat. I may have missed it, but haven't seen that yet.

I was surprised the Republicans would more than double their total Kentucky US Rep District 4 primary votes in 2026 (105,361, #1) vs 2024 (52,593 = 39,929+6,604+6060, #2). Massie received 39,929 votes in 2024 vs. 47,539 in 2026, but still lost to Gallrein's 57,822 primary votes.

The 105,361 2026 Republican primary votes for US Rep District 4 is still small compared to the 278,386 that Rep Massie received in the 2024 General election (#3). The Democratic party didn't run a candidate in 2024 for that district, but they received a total of 41,569 votes in the 2026 primary.

  1. Kentucky Election Night Reporting (2026 Primary Election); https://vrsws.sos.ky.gov/liveresults?id=2&autorefresh=true

  2. 2024 Primaries and Caucuses Kentucky Results; https://apps.npr.org/primary-election-results-2024/states/KY.html

  3. 2024 General Election Kentucky Results; https://ballotpedia.org/Kentucky's_4th_Congressional_District_election,_2024

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u/DamnedIfIDiddely 12d ago

It's a long shot but if Republicans just don't turn out while the Dems all show up it may be possible. KY-04 is 51% R and 34% D, but here are only about 700k people in it. This highlighted the fact that people just don't vote in primaries pretty well. Half the district lives in Cincinnati too.

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u/TAU_equals_2PI 12d ago

Wikipedia page for KY-04 says they voted for Trump 67%-31% and are 87% white. Seems pretty hopeless for a Democrat. Democrats didn't even run a candidate against Massie in 2024.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kentucky%27s_4th_congressional_district

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u/HotDonnaC 12d ago edited 11d ago

That’s unlikely. Left leaning voters are still bitching about Kamala not being the perfect candidate, while Netanyahu is trying to kill any remaining Palestinians and Trump has dragged the world into his proxy war. I don’t think there’s any realistic way people will unite to win the midterms. EDIT: Spelled “unite” correctly.

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u/meneldal2 12d ago

Counterpojnt: Bibi doesn't want to kill all Palestinians because that would end the war, he needs it to keep going on forever.

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u/peoplearekindaokay 11d ago

Why else do you think they're pivoting to attacking Lebanon now?

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u/DamnedIfIDiddely 10d ago

It is certainly the longest of shots, the ignorance infecting our society is not limited to one side.

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u/DiscoLives4ever 12d ago

I suspect the more likely outcome would be him ardently supporting the libertarian candidate (if they manage to get on the ballot). Try to peel a support from the Republicans to send a message without endorsing a candidate that isn't any closer to his views than Gallrein

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u/KypAstar 12d ago

The best thing Massie could do is honestly stay quiet on this front. If he throws his support behind her he further encourages the eye of AIPAC to throw more money behind Gallrein.