Former Navy SEAL officer Ed Gallrein has taken the lead over Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) in a new poll on the Kentucky 4th District primary matchup.
The latest Quantus Insights poll comes just one day before early voting begins in the Bluegrass state, where the closely watched election will test whether President Donald Trump’s endorsement of Gallrein can tip the scales and take down eight-term congressman Massie.
Quantus Insights polled 908 likely GOP voters and found that Gallrein holds 48.3% of the voters’ support, while 43.1% support Massie. Just 7.6% of polled voters remained undecided, with the majority of those undecided voters leaning toward Gallrein. The pollster reported that while “the race remains competitive,” their survey “points to a clear advantage for Gallrein.”
“Massie continues to hold a durable base of support, especially among Republicans drawn to his independent brand and willingness to break with party leadership,” the poll analysis reads. “But in a primary shaped heavily by Trump’s endorsement, national attention, and outside spending, Gallrein’s lead on both the initial ballot and leaner allocation shows the Trump-backed challenger in the stronger position entering the final stretch.”
The survey, taken between May 11 and 12, is the first poll to show Gallrein in the lead, as other surveys had shown Massie up by single digits. The trend does not bode well for Massie, who has won every primary challenge since entering Congress with over 70% of the vote.
This week has trended in a bad direction for Massie, with news breaking late Tuesday that Massie’s former girlfriend accused him of offering her cash to drop a wrongful termination complaint against Massie ally Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-IN). Massie denied the allegations brought by his former girlfriend, Cynthia West, who worked in Spartz’s Washington office during the period she said she was dating Massie.
“It’s sad that a week before this election, people are making false and unsubstantiated allegations about me in an obvious attempt to influence the outcome of this election,” Massie said.
EX-GIRLFRIEND ACCUSES THOMAS MASSIE OF OFFERING HER CASH TO DROP COMPLAINT AGAINST HIS ALLY
Massie voiced concerns last week, during an interview with Tucker Carlson, that he ‘may lose’ the primary because of the millions of dollars in outside negative ad spending against him, which he says is coming from billionaires and pro-Israel groups.
Kentucky’s early voting begins on Thursday, with the primary election on Tuesday, May 19.