Republican U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie is going to be challenged in the 2020 primary by an attorney who represented one of the Kentucky students at the center of the Covington Catholic controversy.

Attorney Todd McMurtry is one of the lawyers representing Covington Catholic student Nick Sandmann, who recently settled a defamation lawsuit against CNN involving a confrontation with an indigenous activist in Washington, D.C., last year.

McMurtry told The Courier Journal on Friday shortly before he filed that he entered the race because President Donald Trump deserves more support than what he is getting out of Massie.

“The reason that I am in the race is to support President Trump,” McMurtry said. “I think that’s what the people of the 4th District want out of an elected official, a congressman in Washington, and that’s what I intend to do.”

Massie's office in Washington referred The Courier Journal to a campaign spokesman who did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

McMurtry's entry is sure to make the race for Kentucky's 4th Congressional District seat one of the more visceral primary campaigns of the 2020 election season and will represent a GOP ideological clash between traditional and libertarian-leaning conservatives.

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McMurtry, a former president of the Northern Kentucky Bar Association, has been publicly critical of Massie in the past. He criticized the congressman for being the lone vote last December against a package of U.S. sanctions against China for human rights abuses against Uighur Muslims in the country's autonomous Xinjiang region

"I voted no tonight on the UIGHUR Act (sanctions against China) for the same reason I voted no in the Hong Kong bill two weeks ago," Massie said in a Dec. 3 tweet. "When our government meddles in the internal affairs of foreign countries, it invites those governments to meddle in our affairs.

"Reasonable people can come to different conclusions on this vote, but before expressing righteous indignation re: my vote against these sanctions, please consider whether you committed enough to the issue that you would personally go a week without buying something made in China."

But McMurtry responded via Twitter the next day saying, "no reasonable person" could agree with Massie's point. He said China's Xi Jinping is a "genocidal dictator" and that "Massie is his best friend in Congress."

"I would always place innocent life over cheap clothing," McMurtry said in a Dec. 4 tweet responding to Massie. "You have no moral compass. What you said in this Tweet was one of the most callous and disgusting things I have ever read."

Massie, whose district spans from eastern Louisville to Ashland, is a darling among tea party activists in Northern Kentucky and he is well-liked among constitutional conservatives nationally. The four-term congressman has been criticized by business-minded Republicans, however, for opposing bipartisan measures big and small, which has earned him the moniker of "Mr. No" in Congress.

Related:Kentucky Republican breaks ranks on Iran war powers resolution vote

This week, Massie was the lone Kentucky Republican who voted for a House resolution aimed at curbing President Donald Trump's ability to wage war against Iran.

"If we go to war, it needs to be with the blessing and the support of the people and a clear mission that our soldiers can accomplish," Massie said Thursday on the House floor. "We do that by following the vision of our founding fathers — we debate it on the floor of the House."

McMurtry criticized Massie's vote in an interview Friday, noting that he was the only Republican to “vote with Pelosi.”

“Amongst all Republicans in Washington, Thomas Massie is considered the most anti-Trump Republican, the person that votes with the president the least,” McMurtry said.

McMurtry said that he is a conservative who supports building a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border and is “very pro-life” on abortion

National party figures frustrated with Massie had approached state Rep. Kim Moser, R-Taylor Mill, last year about a possible primary challenge against the congressman.

Sources told The Courier Journal Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik, of New York, was behind the recruitment effort, but her spokeswoman denied the congresswoman was dabbling in Bluegrass State politics.

Massie, who was affiliated with the tea party movement, assumed office in 2012 after winning the Republican primary as the wild-card candidate in a three-way contest. He has easily defeated every Democratic opponent by more than 30 percentage points in the four general elections since.

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Reach Phillip M. Bailey at pbailey@courier-journal.com or 502-582-4475. Follow him on Twitter at @phillipmbailey.