Outgoing Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) declined to rule out a 2028 presidential bid in an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press”, five days after losing his Republican primary to a Trump-backed challenger in what became the most expensive House primary in US history.

Pressed by moderator Kristen Welker on whether he was considering a White House run after some of his supporters chanted “President, President” during his concession speech, Massie told NBC he was leaving his options open. “I will not rule out anything, and right now I’m not going to rule in anything,” he said.

Massie told Welker he had spent the days since the race on his Kentucky farm and was still decompressing from 14 years in Congress. “Every hour that passes, I get decompressed a little bit more,” he said in the interview. “It’s like coming up from the bottom of the ocean, and I’ll take some time and decide what’s next, but I think I will stay engaged in some way or shape. Maybe it’s from the outside.”

When Welker pressed him on whether any future bid would come strictly under the Republican banner, Massie again declined to commit, according to Newsweek’s account of the broadcast, and floated the possibility of seeking local office instead. He told NBC he would not rule out a run for county commissioner, noting that he previously served as Lewis County’s judge executive and calling it “probably the best job I ever had in politics.”

Massie lost the May 19 Republican primary in Kentucky’s 4th Congressional District to former Navy SEAL Ed Gallrein by roughly 10 points. The race drew more than $32 million in ad spending, with Al Jazeera placing the figure above $34 million when all publicity expenditures are included. Outside groups supporting Gallrein included the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and the Republican Jewish Coalition, and billionaire donors Paul Singer, John Paulson, and Miriam Adelson contributed to political action committees opposing Massie.

President Trump recruited Gallrein to run against Massie after the congressman broke with the administration on several major issues. Those included Massie’s vote against the GOP’s signature tax and spending package, his co-authorship with Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) of legislation forcing the release of files tied to the Justice Department’s Jeffrey Epstein investigation, and his opposition to US military action against Iran. Trump signed the Epstein-related measure into law in November after initially opposing it.

In the same Meet the Press appearance, Massie criticized the president’s standing with parts of his own coalition, drawing on a phrase recently used by former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, another miscreant. “Some people on the left have Trump Derangement Syndrome. They call it TDS,” Massie told NBC. “But there’s a growing number of people on the right who have a form of TDS called Trump Disappointment Syndrome.”

Massie is not currently considered a top-tier contender in a prospective 2028 Republican field expected to feature more established national figures. Khanna, appearing separately on Meet the Press, told Welker that Massie had lost his seat because of his work on the Epstein files and his opposition to the Iran war, calling him “a real friend” and “a good man.”

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)