This Northern Kentucky GOP primary is getting nasty. We fact-checked the rumors

One Northern Kentucky race is getting especially nasty as two GOP candidates battle before the primary next month.

Republican candidates Ed Massey and T.J. Roberts are running in District 66, a Republican stronghold covering northern Boone County.

The Enquirer interviewed both candidates about the big issues in the race: immigration, Donald Trump, abortion, school vouchers.

Now, we’re fact-checking some of the claims against them based on what we've seen from the Boone County Republican committee, social media posts, and from people who've shared information directly with The Enquirer.

Massey donated to Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign in 2008.

True.

The Boone County Republican committee censured Massey in January and correctly reported Massey had donated money to Democrats. According to the Federal Election Commission, Ed Massey donated $250 to Hillary Clinton in 2008.

Massey said that money was the cost of admission to attend an event to hear Clinton speak at his friend Nathan Smith's Fort Mitchell home. Smith has been a Democrat party leader and fundraiser for decades.

"I didn't even meet her, didn't shake her hand. I just heard her speak and was there. That's it. I've never supported her. I've never voted for her. I've never campaigned for her," he said.

"That was before Benghazi. I think she's appalling. I think she's disgraceful. But at the time, I was just trying to meet a presidential candidate. I'm an informed, I would like to think, intelligent, educated voter,” he said.

Donations to Democrats Ben Chandler, a former U.S. Representative, and Jack Conway, former Kentucky Attorney General, were also for ticketed political events, he said.

Roberts posted a meme making fun of dead children in the days after a mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas.

True.

Roberts told The Enquirer he posted the following meme within a few days of the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas where 19 children and two adults were killed:

“That was stupid. It was a remarkably insensitive and tone-deaf way of me trying to convey that at the end of the day: the Constitution has spoken on some things," he said. "Gun rights are one of those things and, realistically speaking, there's no gun control policy that would have solved that problem. It was a very, very stupid tone-deaf way to say it.”

Massey voted to give a $35 million loan to an abortion clinic.

False.

The Republican censure resolution declared that Massey "voted to give $35 million to an abortion clinic." Here's what happened.

In 2020, Massey was among many Republicans, including former Republican Gov. Matt Bevin, who supported a $35 million loan to help the University of Louisville bail out Jewish Hospital.

At the time, the school had to offer training in abortion procedures to maintain its accreditation. Medical students could opt out of the training. EMW Women's Surgical Center offered that training, though, no public money was spent to facilitate the training. Doctors who performed abortions at the facility were paid separately by the private clinic, The Courier-Journal reported.  

The Boone County Republican committee cited his vote on the bailout in their resolution to censure him for, "long-standing support for left-wing politics, politicians, and policies, and further calls upon Ed Massey to either represent the Republican platform or leave the Republican Party."

Roberts has ties to white supremacists

It's true Roberts met with neo-Nazi Richard Spencer and referenced an antisemitic conspiracy. But he told The Enquirer those experiences from years ago are part of a "smear campaign" against him and he is not a racist or antisemitic.

More: Candidate TJ Roberts referenced 'white genocide.' Here's what the GOP candidate says now

"I resent that not because of what it does to me. I resent that because of what it does to communities in Kentucky where it creates a culture of fear that people are now worried that there are members of their political class who hate them based on immutable characteristics," he said. "I heavily lament the fact that that's becoming a talking point in this race. I think that's wrong. I think it's just scoring cheap political points off of the fear of other people."

Roberts provided The Enquirer with apparent messages that show he has admonished people online for spouting white supremacist ideas.

He admitted to shaking hands and sitting with well-known neo-Nazi Richard Spencer. He said he used the chance to disagree with him about his ideas.

In the Facebook message to someone, Roberts used internet slang to say he is not on the side of Jewish people.

"I'm a religious Christian and quite frankly I'm sick of them promoting white genocide," he wrote, referencing the false conspiracy that there's a plan to eliminate the white race.

He told The Enquirer he was not linking Jewish people to that idea and his acknowledgment of a conspiracy does not mean he supports it. He said he doesn't.

"Obviously, I wish I had worded this better in order to have conveyed my sarcasm better for third-party readers. I stand by my statement that this conversation is entirely out of context and is being used to convey beliefs that I do not hold now, nor have I ever held," he said.

Massey refused to impeach Democrat Gov. Andy Beshear

True.

In 2021, several members of the public petitioned to impeach Beshear because of his COVID-19 lockdown policies, The Courier-Journal reported.

Massey, along with about half a dozen lawmakers, was appointed by House leadership to an impeachment committee that looked into the issue.

The committee heard from two experts who, Massey said, told members there was no "history or precedent or basis for us to to impeach the governor and to do so would be basically a simple political action but nothing with illegal substance or legal gravity that it would be upheld."

Along with advice from counsel, the group unanimously voted to not impeach Beshear, according to reporting from The Courier-Journal.

Roberts has not always been a Republican and didn’t support Donald Trump in 2016.

The first accusation is true. The second is partially true.

“I registered libertarian when I was 17 years old. Then, when I was 19, I figured it was time to quit being a teenager. Then I registered Republican,” Roberts told The Enquirer.

He also supported Kentucky U.S. Senator Rand Paul’s 2016 presidential bid before the candidate dropped out of the race. Then, he said, he supported Trump.

“I have voted for Trump in the past, intend to do so this May and this November,” he said.

Do you have questions about the upcoming primary election? Questions or concerns about candidates? Contact Northern Kentucky reporter Jolene Almendarez at jolenea@gannett.com and she'll get back to you.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Fact-checking rumors in Ed Massey vs. T.J. Roberts Ky. statehouse race