Sawt Falasteen - Kentucky primary vote tests Trump's grip on Republican base

Several states are holding primaries to pick candidates for the November midterm elections, but the standout contest is in Kentucky, where Trump aims to oust seven-term Republican Thomas Massie, one of the president's most persistent internal critics.

The race is being watched as a measure of whether Trump's grip on Republican voters remains strong despite war, inflation and sliding national approval ratings -- and whether there is still room in the party for lawmakers willing to break with him.

Massie has angered Trump by opposing US military action in Iran and Venezuela, criticizing aid to Israel, resisting parts of the president's agenda and helping push for the release of files related to multimillionaire sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Trump has endorsed Ed Gallrein, a farmer and retired Navy SEAL, in what US media have described as the most expensive House primary in American history, with more than $32 million in ad spending -- much of it from pro-Israeli groups opposed to Massie.

The president has spent months attacking the avowedly libertarian 55-year-old former engineer and inventor, labeling him a disloyal "moron," a "nut job" and a "major sleazebag."

"Dealing with him is just horrible. I don't think he's a Republican... He's not a libertarian," Trump told reporters after polls opened.

"Sometimes they say he's really a Dumb-ocrat. He votes against us all the time," added the president, who has recently taken to insulting Democrats with his alternative pronunciation.

- Pro-Trump voting record -

Massie -- who has voted with Trump around 90 percent of the time so far in the president's second term -- has cast the race as a test of independence inside the Republican Party.

"I'm not running against President Trump. Most of the people voting for me support President Trump like I do," Massie told Fox News as Trump was speaking.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth made an unusual appearance in Massie's district Monday to campaign for Gallrein.

It is against the law for federal employees to engage in partisan political activity while on duty, but Hegseth's office said he was acting in a personal capacity and that no taxpayer funds would be used.

Trump later revealed that the Pentagon chief's time out from his official duties came just hours before the United States was expecting to launch a new military assault on Iran, although hostilities were ultimately postponed.

The Kentucky showdown comes after Trump allies routed state lawmakers in Indiana who resisted his redistricting demands, and after Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy -- who voted to convict Trump following his impeachment over the 2021 US Capitol riot -- failed to make a runoff over the weekend.

Elsewhere Tuesday, Georgia voters are choosing candidates in Senate and gubernatorial primaries, but the state's supreme court races may provide the clearest bellwether in the key swing state.

Democrats are trying to unseat two incumbent justices in contests that have drawn endorsements from Barack Obama and other party heavyweights. No incumbent Georgia supreme court justice has lost reelection in more than a century.

I.Saadi--SF-PST