Kentucky voter Rob Barkley, Image via Screengrab / CNN.
There are several elections on Tuesday in the U.S., but one major one is a Kentucky House race that has proven to be the most costly in history ($32 million). On the ground, Republicans are voting on whether to retain Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), who has been a thorn in the side of President Donald Trump in the past year. One MAGA voter was all in on Massie, despite their feud.
CNN national affairs correspondent Jeff Zeleny said that the election is for Massie, but it might as well be about Trump.
"It's a loyalty test for President Trump. And Thomas Massie has long been on the list of the White House as the top Republican who infuriates the president more than anyone else," said Zeleny. "Why is that? Of course, Thomas Massie led the charge to release the [Jeffrey] Epstein files. He has also voted against some key pieces of legislation, and he's been a critic of the Iraq War. Otherwise, he largely votes the conservative line. There's no doubt that Massie has a contrarian libertarian streak. That is one of the things that voters here say they like about him a lot, actually."
Trump, on the other hand, is "fixated" on Massie, Zeleny continued. He's been willing to throw as much money as necessary to go after Massie and tear him down.
"But as we've been talking to voters here in northern Kentucky, they're viewing this race through a different lens," he explained.
Kentucky voter Rob Barkley said he voted for Trump in 2016 but didn't support him recently. Now that it has come between Trump or Massie, Barkley said he's against Trump.
"I voted for Massie because he's pretty much against — he's on the Republican side. So he does have a conservative mindset, but he's not as far leaning right as the trump politics and basically a voting against Trump, honestly," the GOP voter said.
"You voted against Trump?" Zeleny asked.
"I did not vote for Trump in the previous election. I voted for him the first time, and then I went against him the second time. But on this one, it's predominantly around just his — the stuff he does," said Barkley.