The Republican Jewish Coalition is answering President Trump’s call to eject Rep. Thomas Massie from the GOP, announcing it has endorsed the Kentucky congressman’s primary challenger and plans to bundle resources for him.
Massie sparked a backlash across the Republican Party when he tried to force the House to hold a roll-call vote on a massive $2.2 trillion coronavirus rescue package, forcing more members to be present in the chamber amid public health concerns than would otherwise have been necessary. Trump went so far as to tweet that the conservative congressman should be thrown out of the Republican Party.
The RJC responded Friday by announcing the group would activate its extensive network of campaign contributors for Todd McMurtry, the Republican attorney challenging Massie in Kentucky’s June 23 primary. The RJC also plans to target 4th District voters with telephone calls urging a vote for McMurtry, a lawyer who represented Covington Catholic High School student Nick Sandmann in his defamation suit against CNN.
“It is VERY rare for @rjc to take sides in a primary. Even rarer to take sides in a primary against an incumbent,” tweeted Matt Brooks, the group’s executive director. “Our concerns about @RepThomasMassie and the gravity of this race necessitate it.”
The RJC has had issues with Massie for years because of his noninterventionist foreign policy views. The congressman has voted against military aid to Israel, opposed a resolution condemning the anti-Israel boycott, divestment, and sanctions movement, and declined to oppose the Iran nuclear deal implemented by President Barack Obama and later severed by Trump.
With the support of Trump and Democratic and Republican leaders in the House, the plan for passing the urgent pandemic rescue package was to hold a quick voice vote. Massie, a libertarian-leaning Republican, took issue with such a plan for a bill of this magnitude and traveled from Kentucky to Washington in order to be present to force a roll-call vote. He was thwarted when Democrats and Republicans collaborated to reject his motion for a recorded vote, but to do so, many members had to be summoned to the House chamber to defeat it, prompting Trump to lash out.
“Looks like a third rate Grandstander named @RepThomasMassie, a Congressman from, unfortunately, a truly GREAT State, Kentucky, wants to vote against the new Save Our Workers Bill in Congress. He just wants the publicity. He can’t stop it, only delay, which is both dangerous..,” the president tweeted.
“Workers & small businesses need money now in order to survive,” Trump continued in a second tweet. “Virus wasn’t their fault. It is ‘HELL’ dealing with the Dems, had to give up some stupid things in order to get the ‘big picture’ done. 90% GREAT! WIN BACK HOUSE, but throw Massie out of Republican Party!”
Massie was unmoved by the criticism.
“There’s a big cover up in there. They’re trying to cover up their votes,” he told reporters after the rescue package cleared the House. “They had enough people there to pass the bill, but they still refused to have a recorded vote. And they told me they were trying to protect members.”
Kerry Picket contributed to this report.
