Politics

Ed Gallrein Has Boomers To Thank For Defeating Thomas Massie

Screenshot/YouTube/Ed Gallrein for State Senate

The Baby Boomer generation overwhelmingly voted for Trump-backed candidate Ed Gallrein, who ousted seven-term incumbent Republican Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie in a GOP primary Tuesday night.

Seventy-two percent of voters between the ages of 26 and 35 supported Massie, while 16.2% backed Gallrein, according to a Quantus Insight poll from May 13. A majority of voters ages 66 to 75, 61.8%, supported Gallrein and 27.1% of that age group supported Massie.

Massie also held a 37-point lead among voters ages 36 to 45 and a 16-point lead among those ages 46 to 55, according to the poll. Gallrein led among voters ages 56 to 65 by a 54% to 36% margin.

A separate poll from Friday found that voters ages 18 to 29 supported Massie by 81.5%, while voters ages 30 to 44 supported him by 70.7%, according to Big Data Poll. Voters over the age of 65 supported Gallrein by a 61.1% to 38.9% margin. One month prior, 78.5% of voters ages 17 to 29 supported Massie and 65% of voters over the age of 65 supported Gallrein, Big Data Poll found on April 8.

The same survey found that Gallrein only held a lead with voters over the age of 65.

The primary had low voter turnout, with a total of 104,071 votes being casted, according to Ballotpedia. Gallrein defeatedMassie by a 9-point margin, 54.8% to 45.2%, after President Donald Trump launched an aggressive campaign to oust Massie.

Massie became Trump’s political foe over his multiple votes against the One Big, Beautiful Bill Act, his efforts to release the files surrounding Jeffrey Epstein and his criticisms of the Iran war. More than $32 million was spent on advertisements in the race, making it the most expensive primary in U.S. House history.

The American Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and other pro-Israel lobbying groups spent over $9 million in mostly independent expenditures to oust Massie. Gallrein received over $63,000 in direct PAC donations from groups such as the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) and AIPAC’s super PAC, the United Democracy Project (UDP), and over $11.8 million from independent expenditures.

AIPAC openly congratulated Gallrein and argued that “being pro-Israel is good policy and good politics.”