A screenshot of a pro-Massie ad attacking Eddie Gallrein for his financial support from billionaire Paul Singer – Photo: Restore Freedom PAC, a project of Hold The Line PAC. Courtesy of AdImpact, via YouTube.
A political action committee backing U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) is facing criticism over a campaign ad attacking Massie’s Republican primary opponent, Eddie Gallrein, for ties to Paul Singer, a Jewish billionaire hedge fund manager and longtime supporter of same-sex marriage.
According to Mediaite, the ad — produced by Restore Freedom PAC, a project of Hold The Line PAC — has aired ahead of the May 19 Republican primary and seeks to portray Gallrein as insufficiently conservative on social issues and out of step with the “Make America Great Again” movement.
Federal Election Commission filings show that Hold The Line PAC, which has been linked to January 6 rioter Derrick Evans, spent $235,000 on television ads supporting Massie, a libertarian-leaning Republican who has drawn attacks from President Trump for opposing the president’s “Big Beautiful Bill” over debt and spending concerns and for pushing to release the Epstein files.
The race for the Republican nomination in Kentucky’s 4th Congressional District has become the most expensive House primary in history in terms of ad spending, according to the tracking firm AdImpact. More than $32 million has been spent, much of it by Trump-aligned groups and pro-Israel organizations angered by Massie’s votes against resolutions supporting the Israeli government and condemning anti-Zionism as antisemitism.
Against that backdrop, Hold The Line PAC has seized on one of Gallrein’s largest donors, Paul Singer, the president and CEO of Elliott Management, and his history of supporting LGBTQ rights as evidence that Gallrein is insufficiently conservative. Under campaign finance laws, the PAC cannot legally coordinate with Massie’s campaign.
Singer’s son is gay and married another man in 2009, and Singer has reportedly donated more than $8.5 million to efforts supporting same-sex marriage.
According to Axios, the minute-long ad accuses Gallrein of being influenced by the so-called “LGBTQ mafia” and suggests his positions on LGBTQ rights are shaped by donations from Singer. Critics have argued the ad traffics in antisemitic tropes about wealthy Jewish donors wielding outsized political influence.
“Eddie Gallrein is bought and paid for by the LGBTQ mafia,” the ad’s female narrator says as footage of a pro-LGBTQ protest and a drag queen addressing a crowd flashes on screen. “Far-left, trans activist billionaire Paul Singer is bringing his trans madness to Kentucky.”
“Singer is spending millions to remove Massie,” the narrator continues, as a rainbow graphic reading “Paul Singer, LGBTQ Activist” flashes on screen alongside a rainbow-colored Star of David. “The Gay Mafia will own woke Eddie.”
The ad also includes clips of Singer discussing how he and his team “became quite friendly with legacy gay rights groups, including hard-core Democrats” and later became interested in funding LGBTQ advocacy organizations.
“Paul Singer is a major pro-gay, pro-trans activist who works with hard-core Democrats,” the narrator continues. “Gallrein doesn’t share our Kentucky values. He is with the weirdos. And if Gallrein wins, the weirdos take over. On May 19, say, ‘No’ to Eddie Gallrein and his billionaire club of LGBTQ weirdos. Re-elect Thomas Massie. For Kentucky. For America.”
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