Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) on Monday said Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s appearance in Kentucky to stump for retired Navy SEAL Ed Gallrein was a sign that the Republican challenger’s campaign is “imploding.”

Hegseth, who along with President Trump has overseen the U.S. military operation in Iran appeared with Gallrein at a rally in Hebron, Ky., on Monday. Trump has endorsed the former service member in the contentious race.

“How much personal time do you have when you’re supposed to be monitoring a war in Iran?” Massie told CBS News. “You don’t send the Secretary of War to Kentucky during a war if you think your candidate is up 10 points. That’s what you do when you realize your whole campaign is imploding.”

Massie and Trump have been at odds after the former co-led the discharge petition requiring the Justice Department to release all of its files on convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The president has long blasted moderate Republican, more recently following the lawmaker’s criticisms over the war in Iran.

“He knows I’m tough to beat,” Massie told the outlet. “He’s literally losing sleep over this race, because he’s in with both feet. I think their polling shows what our polling shows, which is there’s a better than half chance that we’re going to win this race.”

The incumbent, who represents Kentucky’s 4th Congressional District, said millions of dollars spent by pro-Israel interest groups like the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and GOP donor Miriam Adelson have disrupted the race more than Trump, lowering his support within the district from 80 percent to 60 percent.

“I think what would have been a 60-40 race is now a 50-50 race,” Massie told CBS News, later calling the race “a referendum on whether the Israeli lobby can buy a seat in Congress.”

Hegseth’s appearance in Kentucky on Monday was seen as irregular, with some critics questioning if it violated the Hatch Act. Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell previously told The Hill that the secretary attended the event “in his personal capacity,” which Hegseth said at the event too.

The defense chief told Kentucky voters in his remarks that Trump “needs reinforcements, and that’s what war fighters do.”

“War fighters understand mission, they understand teamwork, they understand loyalty, and they understand that in the middle of a fight, you don’t weaken your own side to advance to the objective, and that’s what Ed Gallrein understands, because he has lived it,” Hegseth said.

He also accused Massie of “grandstanding” and painted him as an obstructionist with “years of acting like being difficult is the same thing as being courageous. It’s not.”

The primary comes days after Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), another Republican who previously criticized the president, failed to secure his seat in the Louisiana primary over the weekend, which will go to a runoff in June.

Cassidy was one of the few GOP lawmakers still in Congress who voted to convict Trump during his second impeachment trial — centered on his attempt to stay in power after the 2020 election and his alleged role in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack.

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