MAYSVILLE, Kentucky — Kentuckians have always had a soft spot for punching back at the powers that be. Some of that spirit came from the Pennsylvanian farmers and distillers who migrated here in 1791 to escape federal excise taxes and government overreach on their whiskey production.
Kentucky was considered the District of Kentucky or part of Virginia until it became the 15th state in the Union on June 1, 1792.
In 1791, Kentucky was attractive to irritated Pennsylvania farmers because they could produce whiskey without government overreach. More often than not, farmers were cash-poor and used their whiskey as currency. But the government required the excise tax to be paid in cash — cash that they did not have.
So a lot of them left. Thomas Jefferson, the governor of Virginia at the time, even made it easier to leave by offering 60 acres of land to any native of Pennsylvania who planted corn there.
Two cultural milestones happened because of that migration, both helping form the comportment and ingenuity of the people who became part of the Kentucky we know today.
First, the migration played a significant role in the evolution of American whiskey thanks to how the corn-rich spirits aged in charred barrels as they made their way from the Missouri and Ohio rivers to New Orleans.
And second, the new Kentuckians carried with them a stubborn streak of “don’t mess with the little guy.”
But it would be a mistake to think that just because they like to punch back doesn’t mean that they’re not drawn to people who serve their country, then their community, and who hold those roots dear.
It is in that confluence of stubborn independence and reverence for those who have served that residents of Kentucky’s 4th Congressional District find themselves deciding between incumbent Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), who has held the seat since 2013 and frames himself as a “fighter,” and former Navy SEAL and farmer Ed Gallrein on May 19.
Massie has objected to the president’s budget bill and his foreign policy, and Massie has insisted that the full files of late financier Jeffrey Epstein be released. Massie’s persistent fighting with President Donald Trump has voters here starting to wonder whether the independence the congressman has touted over the last decade is him standing up for the little guy or grandstanding.
If voters do feel that way, then Massie has lost the argument and enough support to win this election. And a lot of them do.
In February, Massie was here at the local GOP dinner, telling just under 100 of the party faithful that he was not anyone’s rubber stamp; that if they were looking for independence, then he was their guy.
This contest between Massie and Gallrein marks the first time that the incumbent congressman has faced a one-on-one primary.
There is no doubt that this is his toughest race. Voters here have said they’ve moved away from him, not because of his quarreling with Trump, but because he’s made it about himself, not them.
In contrast, Gallrein, a multigeneration Kentuckian with decades of service in the U.S. military, is a relative newcomer to politics. He ran once in a crowded primary race for state senate in 2024, ultimately losing by just a smidge more than 100 votes.
Gallrein spent time away from Kentucky while he was in the military, but it didn’t take Kentucky out of him. His drawl is rich and deliberate, and his manners are impeccable. He retired 12 years ago and went right back to getting a little soil under his nails. His family also runs a popular destination farm in Shelby County, in the western stretch of the 4th Congressional District.
In our interview, Gallrein said that he grew up on the family dairy farm, “Which is a contact sport, and for five generations we’ve been farming in Kentucky for over a hundred years down on the river bottoms,” he said.
His military bearing hasn’t left him either. When he speaks, he commands the room, which draws the attention of voters interested in learning something new, as he did Thursday night at a GOP dinner in Kenton County.
Gallrein stepped up to the podium. And after connecting with voters over football rivalries, he got right to the point. A call to service led him to join the military, but also to farming and running for Congress.
“President Reagan inspired me to serve in 1983. There were no books or movies [on the SEALs] when I signed up for the SEALs from the farm field in Kentucky. So I left Kentucky and chose the hardest path I could to serve our nation because I had the audacity to think I could make a difference,” he said.
Gallrein, who rose to become a Navy SEAL officer and had a career that spanned three decades, said, “I served this nation leading missions around the world on seven different SEAL teams, including multiple times on SEAL Team Six, earning four bronze stars.”
Gallrein told the Washington Examiner that when his military service ended, he proudly came home to Kentucky. “Back to the farm, back to my family, back to serving veterans, and I thought my time was over.”
That was until Trump reached out to Gallrein last fall to come to the White House for a visit.
“Thirty minutes into that conversation on Oct. 17, President Trump said, ‘Ed, I don’t have two consecutive terms like President Reagan to enact the agenda that I was overwhelmingly elected to deliver. Every year matters, every month matters, every week matters, every day matters. And every vote in the Congress and Senate matters.’”
Gallrein said that Trump told him, “You need to serve our nation again.”
“Then it hit me hard,” Gallrein said. “Because I’d already lived a life of sacred obligation as a career SEAL officer, leading troops all around the world. Some who didn’t come home. They gave their all.”
So Gallrein went home, fed the livestock that night, talked with his family, prayed on it, went to church, and made the same decision he made in 1983 when President Ronald Reagan inspired him. “Duty, honor, country. If not me, who? If not now, when?”
Kentucky’s 4th Congressional District is the tale of an interesting voter mindset. Many want Massie to lose, more than I think Massie understands. They feel as though they are Lucy holding the football and pulling it away just as Charlie Brown attempts to make the kick.
SALENA ZITO: PENNSYLVANIA TREASURER BLOCKS $1 MILLION FOR JOSH SHAPIRO’S HOME SECURITY
Voters across the district, a very red northern Kentucky district, find themselves seeing Gallrein as a candidate who comes across as one of them; someone who reflects their values, their toughness, and their independent streak. And who understands their sense of place.
In short, they have come to believe that Massie’s claims of independence have more to do with his ego than serving his constituents. If that holds true, May 19 may be the date that Gallrein steps up to serve again.