House of Representatives, and America, Need a Thomas Massie Victory
With political news dominated by a presidential threat to bring death to an entire civilization, accusations that a Democratic candidate for governor in California was a rapist, and an American president insulting the first American pope, one can understand the lack of national attention being paid to a congressional race in Northern Kentucky vital to the conservative movement. Congressman Thomas Massie, first elected in 2012, is in the fight of his political life after President Trump called for his ouster last year. Next month, Massie faces a primary challenge that is giving him the most competitive race he has ever seen.
How did a backbencher like Massie earn Trump’s ire? It turns out that Massie’s habit of voting to keep his campaign promises—his insistence on accountability, transparency, fiscal responsibility, and adherence to the Constitution—does not sit well with a president accustomed to the GOP’s uncritical acceptance of everything coming out of the White House.
During my time in the House, I always enjoyed my interactions with Massie. The MIT-trained engineer and inventor has a gifted mind, but even more admirable is his unparalleled commitment to the principles of liberty on which the nation was founded. Limited government and fiscal responsibility are bedrock standards for him. Sometimes I agreed with Massie—we both had districts along the Ohio River and routinely supported water infrastructure projects tied to interstate commerce. Sometimes I disagreed, such as on Massie’s efforts to limit the federal role in marijuana regulation. But his positions were always thoughtful, and hearing his arguments helped me sharpen my own.
I could not have been more proud of Massie than when he stood athwart history in March 2020 to demand that members of the House actually vote on what was then the largest spending bill ever—the $2.2 trillion CARES Act—at the start of the COVID pandemic. Massie made the irrefutable point that “millions of essential, working-class Americans [were] still required to go to work during th[e] pandemic, such as manufacturing line workers, healthcare professionals, pilots, grocery clerks, cooks/chefs, delivery drivers, auto mechanics, and janitors (to name just a few). Is it too much,” Massie continued, “to ask that the House do its job?”
The blowback was intense. In a little-recognized irony, Massie gave both Liz Cheney and Donald Trump something they could agree on—that he should be booted from Congress. The Trump-Cheney wish never came to fruition, and Massie was handily re-elected that year.
More recently, with Massie’s opposition to the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill—which according to the Tax Foundation will increase the deficit—and his efforts to bring transparency to the Epstein files, Trump is again targeting him. Regarding Epstein, Massie introduced legislation to require the release of the government’s files on the sex trafficker. The bill should have been noncontroversial, as Trump was supportive of this position in his campaign. When GOP leadership refused to bring the bill to the floor, however, Massie worked across the aisle on a discharge petition to force a vote. Once that hurdle was cleared, leadership and Trump dropped their opposition. The bill passed the House 427–1 and the Senate by unanimous consent. When a member achieves that kind of legislative victory, you would think his re-election would be assured.
In addition to bringing accountability and transparency to Washington, Massie is the fiercest deficit hawk I know. When Massie and I were elected, the national debt stood at a staggering $14 trillion. Republicans elected in the 2010–2012 era had a mandate to control spending. A decade and a half later, our debt now exceeds $39 trillion. I guarantee that Thomas Massie is one member of Congress who bears zero responsibility for this nightmare. For that reason alone, we need him back.
While war, sex, and the pope are making headlines, Massie has been doing what he’s done since he was first elected: staying in touch with voters in Kentucky’s Fourth Congressional District and raising the funds to get his message out amid the millions flowing in to defeat him. He raised nearly half a million dollars in a grass-roots “money bomb” fundraiser over two days in early April. His supporters know something they want all Kentuckians to know: Thomas Massie has not only their best interests at heart, but the nation’s also. Conservatives nationwide need to be all on his re-election. Should he prevail, it will be a small step forward in making America great again and a big step forward in making Congress great again.
*Congressman Keith Rothfus served 3 terms in the U.S. House. He is a Notre Dame Law School graduate living near Pittsburgh where he and his wife raised their family.
