{"id":2252456,"date":"2024-05-24T19:22:02","date_gmt":"2024-05-24T23:22:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/thomas-massie-denies-plans-to-run-for-mcconnells-senate-seat-in-2026\/"},"modified":"2024-05-24T19:23:12","modified_gmt":"2024-05-24T23:23:12","slug":"thomas-massie-denies-plans-to-run-for-mcconnells-senate-seat-in-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/thomas-massie-denies-plans-to-run-for-mcconnells-senate-seat-in-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Thomas Massie refutes intention to vie for McConnell&#8217;s Senate seat in 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fthomas-massie-denies-plans-to-run-for-mcconnells-senate-seat-in-2026%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2252456&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Rep. Thomas Massie from Kentucky dismissed plans to run for Senator Mitch McConnell&#8217;s seat in 2026. He clarified his focus on seeking reelection \u200dto his House seat. The speculation arose following McConnell&#8217;s announcement about stepping down as Republican\u2062 Senate leader, \u200dsparking questions about his reelection plans. Massie faced scrutiny over his stance on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/congressional-republicans-call-on-biden-administration-to-act-swiftly-on-ethiopia-crisis\/\" title=\"Congressional Republicans Call on Biden Administration to Act Swiftly on Ethiopia Crisis\">foreign aid<\/a>, as highlighted\u200d in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/ny-times-claims-balenciaga-scandal-is-just-a-right-wing-conspiracy-theory\/\" title=\"NY Times Claims Balenciaga Scandal Is Just a Right-Wing Conspiracy Theory\">recent ad campaigns<\/a>.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Rep. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/campaigns\/3013368\/thomas-massie-makes-enemies-everywhere-except-home\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Thomas Massie\">Thomas Massie<\/a> (R-KY) denied he has plans to run for Sen. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/mitch-mcconnell\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Thomas Massie\">Mitch McConnell<\/a>\u2019s (R-KY) seat in 2026, confirming his intention to run for reelection to his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/house-of-representatives\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"House\">House<\/a> seat instead.  <\/p>\n<p>While a possible run for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/senate\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Senate\">Senate<\/a> would be years off, and Massie just won the 2024 Republican nomination for his House seat, McConnell\u2019s February announcement that he would be retiring as the Republican Senate leader in November has opened speculation that he will not seek reelection in 2026.<\/p>\n<p>Massie has recently been targeted in advertisements run by the United Democracy Project, a super PAC affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, over his voting record in the House. Massie has generally opposed the U.S. giving out foreign aid, voting against a<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/interactive\/2024\/04\/20\/us\/politics\/ukraine-israel-foreign-aid-vote.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"$14 billion foreign aid package that would h\"> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/mitch-mcconnell-leads-delegation-of-gop-senators-to-ukraine\/\" title=\"Mitch McConnell Leads Delegation of GOP Senators to Ukraine\">foreign aid package<\/a> that <\/a>gave funding to Israel, Taiwan, and Ukraine in April.<\/p>\n<p>The super PAC invested in a $300,000 TV ad spending buy against Massie, <a href=\"https:\/\/jewishinsider.com\/2024\/05\/aipac-united-democracy-project-thomas-massie-israel-record-primary-kentucky\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"according to Jewish Insider\">according to<\/a><em><a href=\"https:\/\/jewishinsider.com\/2024\/05\/aipac-united-democracy-project-thomas-massie-israel-record-primary-kentucky\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"according to Jewish Insider\">  Jewish Insider<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>AIPAC has said it was \u201cshining a spotlight on his atrocious anti-Israel record\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AIPAC\/status\/1793103598135751164\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"in a post on X. \">in a post on X. <\/a><\/p>\n<figure><\/figure>\n<p>Massie quipped the spending against him sounded like an \u201cinvitation to run for Senate,\u201d saying the advertisements AIPAC was running would only serve to raise his name recognition in the state.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s going to elevate my name ID, and two years from now, nobody\u2019s gonna remember what the ads were about,\u201d Massie told the Washington Examiner while in attendance at the Libertarian National Convention. \u201cSo, thank you, AIPAC.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Massie defeated two Republican rivals in Kentucky\u2019s GOP primary on Tuesday easily, despite recently bucking leadership to join Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene\u2019s (R-GA) effort to oust House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) from his leadership role.<\/p>\n<p>Massie told the <em>Washington Examiner<\/em> that he does not currently have any plans to continue pursuing the ousting of Johnson after a vote to do so failed on that House floor on May 8. <\/p>\n<p>However, he said that if he \u201cwoke up tomorrow and Mike Johnson resigned, it\u2019d be one of the best days of [his] life.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Kentucky Republican also was one of the few House members to back Gov. Ron DeSantis\u2019s (R-FL) 2024 presidential run over former President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) denied any interest in running for Sen. Mitch McConnell&#8217;s (R-KY) seat in 2026. He affirmed his commitment to seeking reelection for his House seat. Despite McConnell&#8217;s recent announcement, Massie&#8217;s focus remains on his current position, with a potential Senate candidacy distant in the future<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2912,"featured_media":2252457,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/AP24128753941860-1024x591.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2252456","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/AP24128753941860-1024x591.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2252456","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2912"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2252456"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2252456\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2252457"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2252456"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2252456"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2252456"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}