Flaring midterm election tensions among Kentucky Republicans were on display over the weekend after a microphone was taken away from U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie during a Lincoln Day Dinner.
Meanwhile, Republican Massie, who faces a Trump-endorsed challenger, took the Republican president to task on national television Sunday for posting a racist video and criticizing Massie’s wife.
As Kentuckians prepare to vote this year for members of Congress, including electing a successor to U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell, the Republican president’s eagerness to defeat Massie is casting a national spotlight on the Kentucky GOP. It’s also seeping into the U.S. Senate race as Republican candidates vie for an endorsement by Trump who easily carried Kentucky in all three of his elections.
Videos that have gone viral on social media show state House Speaker David Osborne taking the microphone away from the congressman, who is seeking reelection against a primary challenger recruited by President Donald Trump. Massie was speaking at the Oldham County Republicans’ Lincoln Day Dinner.
Massie, who spoke for about eight minutes, said he wanted to take “a little extra time to defend” his wife, Carolyn Grace Moffa, after Trump attacked her online last week. Trump said on Truth Social that Moffa was “supposedly a Radical Left ‘flamethrower.’”
She is a former staffer for U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, another Kentucky Republican, and has voted for Trump three times, Massie previously said.
“This will be the first and last time I respond to the president’s tweet, and I wouldn’t even respond to it if Ed Gallrein hadn’t retweeted it,” Massie said during the Lincoln Day dinner. “I feel like a woman needs defended, and I’m going to defend her here tonight.”
Gallrein, a former Navy SEAL and Shelby County farmer, is Massie’s Trump-backed Republican opponent.
Osborne can be seen stepping toward Massie in the videos around the six-minute mark. Massie continued to talk and was critical of Gallrein, who also attended the dinner. Eventually, another person walks up from a table in front of the lectern.
“Come up here and hug me,” Massie said to the person and Osborne while holding his arms out before returning to his remarks. Osborne then takes the microphone from the lectern.
According to one video of Massie’s speech, shared by Republican U.S. Senate candidate Michael Farris, someone in the crowd said after Massie leaves the lectern, “Welcome to the snake pit, baby!”
The Louisville Courier-Journal reported that Massie left the dinner with some of his supporters after his speech and they got drinks at a local restaurant.
Spokespeople for Massie did not immediately return a request for comment Monday.
Lincoln Day Dinners are annual fundraisers for county Republican parties. They often draw candidates who hope to speak directly to the party faithful. After the dinner, the Oldham County Republican Party said on Facebook that all campaigns were “given explicit instructions on how long they were permitted to speak well in advance of the event to allow them to prepare for the opportunity.” The post did not list the exact minutes allotted to the candidates. Osborne, who represents Oldham County in the Kentucky House, was “entrusted with enforcing these rules,” the party said.
Massie represents the 4th Congressional District, which includes Oldham County.
The county party’s statement also said that Massie, Gallrein, and U.S. Senate candidate Nate Morris “all went over their allotted time and were ushered from the stage when they continued past their time limit.”
When asked for additional comment, a spokesperson for Osborne referred the Lantern to the Oldham County Republican Party’s statement.
Gallrein posted a clip on X of Osborne taking the microphone away with the caption “Massie Meltdown!”
A spokesperson for Gallrein referred the Lantern to the X post on Monday and declined to give additional comment.
Trump effect in Kentucky
U.S. Rep. Andy Barr, one of three Republican frontrunners for U.S. Senate, endorsed Gallrein against Massie last week. Barr posted on X a photo of himself with Gallrein at the Oldham County Lincoln Day Dinner. Morris quickly followed suit, also endorsing Gallrein against Massie.
Massie again took issue with the Republican president over the weekend. Massie has split with Trump by pushing for release of government files on the investigation of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and criticizing Trump’s military intervention in Venezuela.
In a Sunday interview on CNN, Massie criticized Trump’s posting of a video on social media that depicts former President Barack Obama, the first Black president, and First Lady Michelle Obama as apes.
“He should absolutely apologize. He’s gone too far,” Massie said. “I mean, he’s attacked my wife recently online, and I do think there are limits,” Massie told host CNN journalist Manu Raju.
Barr slams DEI in new television ad
Also over the weekend, Barr began airing a new ad that shows the congressman disavowing DEI programs, which he said means “Dumb, Evil, Indoctrination.” The acronym is shorthand for diversity, equity and inclusion.
“It’s not a sin to be white, it’s not against the law to be male, and it shouldn’t be disqualifying to be a Christian,” Barr said in the ad. “I’m Andy Barr and I approve this message to give woke liberals something else to cry about.”
According to a Monday press release from Barr’s campaign, the commercial is part of a $1 million ad buy on broadcast, cable and digital platforms. The press release highlighted the “unhinged tweets from woke liberals across KY and the country” that were in response to the ad. Democratic U.S. Senate candidates Charles Booker and Amy McGrath were among those criticizing the ad.
Booker’s and Barr’s campaigns had a back and forth about the commercial on X.
“It’s not a sin to be white. It should be a sin to be this desperate though,” Booker said in one of his posts about the ad.
McGrath wrote on X that “Kentuckians don’t wake up worried about culture-war acronyms,” but are concerned about “bills, jobs and health care.”
Kentucky’s primary election is May 19.
This story was updated with additional comments Monday afternoon.
This article appears in Jan 1-31, 2026.