In Kentucky, the Iran War Complicates a Republican Primary

A daily reminder of the war 6,600 miles away sits at the corner of Second and Main Streets in Falmouth, Ky., where the cost of gas at the local BP pumps is $4.62 a gallon.

Sam McClanahan has watched the price climb for months as the U.S. war with Iran has dragged on. He tracks it anxiously from his office at the Falmouth Outlook, the town’s weekly newspaper, where he oversees advertising. And like many Republican voters here, Mr. McClanahan, 43, blames President Trump.

What happened, he asks, to “America First?”

“This was supposed to be the thing he was most focused on, making things better here,” Mr. McClanahan said, sitting on a bench outside the newspaper office. “But it feels like he’s turned his back on us.”

This week, Mr. Trump was asked if the financial hardship for Americans was motivating him to make a deal with Iran. He answered with blunt certainty: “Not even a little bit.”

But the economic impact of the Middle East conflict, demonstrated most acutely by the price of gas, remains a daily hardship for many voters. And perhaps nowhere is the debate over the war more urgent than in northern Kentucky.

Next week, Republican voters in the state’s Fourth Congressional District will decide whether to renominate Representative Thomas Massie, who has been the party’s most outspoken critic of the war. He is facing the most serious threat to his political career from Ed Gallrein, a former Navy SEAL who has been endorsed by Mr. Trump.

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