MAGA KY, a super PAC funded by out-of-state, pro-Israel billionaires, spent $1.56 million between June 27 and Aug. 4 on TV and digital advertisements opposing the reelection of Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), who made waves by asserting that the United States should end all military aid to Israel in May, campaign finance records show.
A trio of pro-Israel billionaires, none of whom are from Kentucky, is responsible for funding the PAC. New York’s Paul Singer, a prominent hedge fund manager, granted the committee a million dollars; fellow hedge fund manager John Paulson of Florida shelled out $250,000; and Preserve America PAC, which is primarily funded by GOP megadonor Miriam Adelson of Nevada, donated $750,000 to the anti-Massie effort.
The PAC retains substantial cash reserves with more big-dollar contributions likely to come from its wealthy donors as Election Day 2026 draws near.
“MAGA KY is committed to spending whatever is necessary to defeat Thomas Massie and replace him with a Congressman that will work [for] President Trump — rather than with radical leftists,” Chris LaCivita, the Trump-aligned consultant who runs the PAC, told the Washington Examiner.
LaCivita played a key role in the 2024 Trump campaign, serving as the chief strategist of the president’s super PAC and as a senior adviser to the campaign.
For his part, Massie has characterized the well-funded effort to defeat him as a “DC-funded hit job.”
In response to Massie’s criticism, LaCivita told the Washington Examiner, “Thomas Massie has become a DC insider, forgot his roots — and joined with the radical left voting against President Trump’s historic tax cuts — including no taxes on overtime and no tax on tips.”
Massie has put up impressive fundraising numbers to counter the push, raising just over a million dollars between January and June and having $1.7 million in cash on hand.
As Israel’s war with Hamas has progressed, Massie has voiced criticism of the Jewish state’s conduct and the U.S.’s involvement.
“Nothing can justify the number of civilian casualties (tens of thousands of women and children) inflicted by Israel in Gaza in the last two years,” Massie posted to social media in late May. “We should end all U.S. military aid to Israel now.”
Accurate death figures are hard to discern, as the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health does not distinguish between combatants and civilians.
Around the time of his statement, Massie signaled his intent to vote against military aid to Israel, which he has done frequently in the past. He also broke with his fellow Republicans on foreign policy when he voted against a bill that condemned the Biden administration for restricting aid to Israel, introduced legislation to prevent the U.S. from entering a war between Israel and Iran, and voiced criticism about the influence held by AIPAC.
These actions have provided MAGA KY with ample opportunities to attack Massie ahead of his primary election, as Israel remains popular among Republicans. Seventy-one percent of Republicans said they approved of Israel’s action in Gaza, according to a Gallup poll released in late July. However, general support for Israel among Americans is slumping.
Advertisements funded by MAGA KY have hit Massie for breaking with President Donald Trump on the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, linked him to anti-Israel liberals such as Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), and insinuated that he was doing the bidding of the ayatollah.
The 2026 election won’t be Massie’s first brush with well-funded pro-Israel donors.
In the lead-up to his 2024 primary election, the AIPAC-affiliated United Democracy Project spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in an attempt to defeat him after he opposed military aid to Israel. Despite the large ad spend, Massie handily defeated his challengers, running away with 75.9% of the vote.
However, recent polling for Massie is bleak.
A poll of 368 likely Republican primary voters conducted by Kaplan Strategies between June 23 and June 24 found that Massie trailed challenger Nicole Lee Ethington 31% to 19%, with 62% of those polled rating him unfavorably.
Some have predicted that the feud between Massie and Trump could devolve into a costly intra-party civil war for Republicans.
“It does strike me as odd that this is the fight you’d really want to pick at a time when we should be more worried about keeping the House majority than taking out Republicans from it,” one Republican strategist told the Hill.
Meanwhile, others are stressing the importance of electing representatives who are aligned with Trump’s agenda.
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“It needs to be done with these tight margins in the House because essentially, if you can’t get the ‘yes’ on anything, you’re just a placeholder and a hindrance to the Trump agenda,” Ford O’Connell, another Republican strategist, told the outlet.
The Massie campaign did not respond to a request for comment.