FRANKFORT, Ky, (AP) - While U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie defends his lone-wolf effort to resist a $2.2 trillion coronavirus-relief package, his primary campaign opponent in Kentucky is pouncing with a new TV ad accusing the Republican incumbent of betraying President Donald Trump.
With his ad, Todd McMurtry is looking to capitalize on Trump’s denunciation of Massie as a “third rate Grandstander” and “a disaster for America” who should be tossed out of the GOP. Trump unleashed the Twitter attacks as Massie tried to stall the historic legislation last week.
While his effort failed, the libertarian-leaning congressman’s action forced hundreds of lawmakers to return to the nation’s Capitol amid the coronavirus pandemic. Frustrated House members from both parties also lashed out at Massie.
McMurtry’s new ad is running in TV markets across the sprawling northern Kentucky district, a conservative area with legions of Trump supporters.
“Thomas Massie is betraying Trump, opposing his coronavirus bill,” the ad’s narrator says, adding: “That’s why Trump said ‘throw Massie out of the Republican Party.’”
The ad ends with McMurtry touting his support for the president.
“Kentucky needs a congressman who will help President Trump. … That’s exactly what I’ll do,” he said.
McMurtry is an attorney who represented a Kentucky student who became engaged in media lawsuits after a viral encounter with a Native American activist in Washington, D.C., in early 2019.
Trump’s diatribe against Massie gave McMurtry an opening that could dominate the primary’s narrative if the challenger is able to capitalize on it, said Republican strategist Scott Jennings.
“Trump’s intervention has beaten other GOP incumbents and it definitely could in this district, too,” Jennings said last week.
Massie has said his request for a recorded vote on the relief package was “to make sure our republic doesn’t die by unanimous consent in an empty chamber.″
Massie, now in his fourth term, acknowledged in a recent radio interview that he “kicked a hornet’s nest” with his parliamentary maneuvering. But he claims it actually gave Trump more leverage if Congress considers another round of virus-related aid for the country.
The rescue package is aimed at supporting businesses, directing resources to overburdened health care providers and helping struggling families during the deepening coronavirus crisis.
Massie has stood his ground, lumping the measure with the 2008 bank bailout - known as the Troubled Asset Relief Program - passed in response to the Great Recession.
“In two years, this is going to be worse than what TARP was,” he said. “And TARP and the auto bailouts and all that stuff, that’s what created or, I would say, encouraged the tea party.”
In the WVLK radio interview, Massie labeled the virus relief package as “the biggest wealth transfer from the poor and the middle class to the super-wealthy.” He said the biggest beneficiaries of the aid will be “big companies and Wall Street and bankers.”
McMurtry has pounded away at Massie on the issue in daily press releases.
“Massie continues to be a legend in his own mind. Apparently, it’s the 434 other members of Congress who are wrong,” McMurtry said.
Massie said his opposition to the relief package was based on principle and prompted a campaign fundraising windfall. His campaign said this week that it raised more than $110,000 over three days after he took his stand.
Kentucky’s primary election, usually in late May, was pushed back to June 23 because of the coronavirus pandemic.
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