U.S.

Senator Rand Paul and fourth District Congressman Thomas Massie of Kentucky hit the road today, making several campaign stops for Massie as he runs for reelection in 2026 and Kentucky's fourth district.

The duo is hosting community forums at each location and giving updates on what's happening in Washington.

They stopped today at May's Mills Park Cafe.

Paul and Massie heard from people about the importance of the towing industry and the River city.

They discussed the impact of trade, tariffs and more.

Massey also talked about his work to release the so-called Epstein Files, files about Jeffrey Epstein and his trafficking of young women and girls.

The congressman is trying to get a discharge petition that would allow members of the House to vote directly on whether to release the files in their entirety.

The petition needs 218 signatures for a vote to take place.

A majority of the House membership.

Right now, the petition has 217 names, but Massie believes he secured the last vote necessary to move forward.

Last night, there was an election in Arizona to fill an empty seat in Congress, and both the Republican and the Democrat promised to sign the Epstein discharge petition that I began and that, so it didn't matter who won.

And now I have 218 votes to force this vote on the floor.

Is something that I think we can all agree on.

The billionaires and politically connected people shouldn't get a pass when they commit some of the worst crimes on the books.

And when we all know that the DOJ has been turning a blind eye to this.

And so I have been bird dog in this and, I think we're going to have a vote on it.

I think I'm actually going to succeed.

The vote could happen as soon as mid-October.

And at that point the speaker has a choice.

Speaker of the House.

And so far, he's been trying to keep the people from supporting my discharge petition.

But now that it's a vote, he has a choice between releasing the conference to vote their conscience and the will of their constituents, which would be for transparency and justice.

Or he can try to hold them all captive.

All the Republicans in the House and make them walk the plank, do the wrong thing politically, but also to do the wrong thing for the victims and survivors.

I hope now that the vote is going to happen.

That he'll realize he'll see the light and he will not try to keep people from voting for it.

Senator Paul and Congressman Massie discussed many other topics, including the likelihood of a government shutdown and if Massie might consider joining the race for the United States Senate.

We'll have much more on their community forum tomorrow night on Kentucky Edition.