Kentucky's Massie addresses hush money claims, maintains he hasn't done anything wrong

Austin Horn, Lexington Herald-Leader on May 13, 2026

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LEXINGTON, Ky. — Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., addressed allegations Wednesday on social media that he offered a former girlfriend hush money to drop a complaint against one of his allies in Congress.

Massie, in a statement on X, denied the claims and said they were typical in the lead-up to heated races. He’s currently fighting to defend the congressional seat he’s held for more than 13 years in this month’s GOP primary against Ed Gallrein, a former candidate for state Senate who has the endorsement of President Donald Trump.

“It’s sad that a week before this election people are making false and unsubstantiated allegations about me in an obvious attempt to influence the outcome of this election. All of the claims of inappropriate conduct are false. I’ve never offered anyone money in exchange for their silence,” Massie wrote in the statement.

He added that he has “consulted legal counsel” and is “considering all options,” in light of the allegations.

The woman making the claims is Cynthia West, a school board candidate in Okaloosa County, Florida. She claims that she and Massie began a relationship in the summer of 2024, and things progressed quickly from there.

In a video interview with Marcus Carey, who ran against Massie in 2012, West described Massie helping her land a job with Indiana Rep. Victoria Spartz. After things soured in her relationship with Massie, West claimed she was fired via text from Spartz’s office.

The video interview between West and Carey was posted Monday evening to a website called Conceived in Liberty, which features little other information aside from the video, except to say that it is “a project devoted to restoration of the accurate and foundational concept of liberty as conceived by the founders of The United States of America.”

West claims she filed a wrongful termination complaint against Spartz’s office, and was offered $60,000 if she also signed a nondisclosure agreement; she refused to sign the agreement.

When West called Massie to tell him she was filing a complaint against Spartz, West said the congressman offered to give her $5,000 in cash.

West later told news outlet Axios that the money was half of $10,000 he gave her when they started dating as “a surety for incidentals” if she left her job to work in Washington. In the interview with Carey, she said Massie was insistent on her moving near him.

West described Massie as “emotionally abusive” in the initial interview.

In the interview with Carey, West said the cash was “part of his cow money, his non-traceable money,” and that he got angry when she didn’t accept it.

In his statement on social media, Massie clarified that he does not keep “non-traceable money.”

“I report all of my farm income, including cash, to the IRS. There are no ethics claims filed against me, nor have there ever been any claims filed against me in my 14 years in office,” Massie wrote.

State Rep. Steven Doan, R-Erlanger, a Northern Kentucky attorney and one of Massie’s closest allies in the state legislature, has responded to the allegations on social media.

“After listening to the statement twice, I was struck by the complete absence of any specific, verifiable allegations. There were no claims of physical abuse, no harassing communications, no documented threats, and no evidence of any kind—only vague assertions without supporting facts,” Doan wrote on X.