Sen. Cassidy battles Trump-backed challenger in Louisiana Republican primary

NEW ORLEANS — U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy is fighting for his political life in Louisiana’s Republican primary Saturday as he faces a backed challenge from President Donald Trump, the president’s latest attempt to purge the party of politicians he views as disloyal.

Trump endorsed U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow over Cassidy, in an unusual attempt to unseat an incumbent senator. Cassidy voted to convict Trump in his second impeachment trial, following the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Cassidy, a physician, also clashed with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. over vaccine policy, even though he provided crucial support in helping Kennedy get confirmed.

A third candidate is State Treasurer John Fleming. If no one obtains at least 50% of the votes, a runoff will take place on June 27.

The winner will almost certainly win the November general election due to the state’s Republican leaning.

The election has been muddled by a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that gutted part of the Voting Rights Act that affects how congressional maps are drawn. Although Senate primaries are moving forward, Louisiana leaders have decided to delay House primaries until a later date to allow them to redraw districts in advance, a change that could confuse voters on Saturday.

Cassidy campaigned aggressively to convince voters that he should not be excluded.

“Four months ago, I would have told you it was impossible for Cassidy to win,” said Mary-Patricia Wray, a consultant to Republican and Democratic candidates in Louisiana. “I still think it’s statistically improbable, but it’s not impossible anymore.”

Paul Begue, a 41-year-old New Orleans man who works in agriculture, said he plans to vote for Cassidy. He was embarrassed by a video of Trump saying Letlow was “as loyal as can be.” For Begue, it was “the final nail in the coffin”.

“I don’t care about his loyalty to President Trump,” he said, adding, “I like elected officials who seem to make their own decisions.”

The senator’s campaign is expected to have spent about $9.6 million on advertising through May 16, according to ad tracking company AdImpact. And the Louisiana Freedom Fund, a super PAC supporting him, is on track to spend $12.3 million.

By comparison, Letlow’s campaign, which launched Jan. 20, has spent about $3.9 million, while a super PAC supporting her, the Accountability Project, has spent about $6 million since then.

Fleming’s campaign has spent about $1.5 million.

Cassidy and the Louisiana Freedom Fund aired ads attacking Letlow days after he entered the race in support of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, which Trump has tried to extract from the federal government.

Letlow, a university administrator before her election to the House, said she supports DEI while interviewing for the 2020 University of Louisiana-Monroe president position.

The ads, an attempt to characterize Letlow as a progressive trying to pass himself off as a conservative, are Cassidy’s way of trying to flip the script in a race where he is in conflict with Trump.

The senator’s vote to convict Trump after his 2021 impeachment following the Jan. 6 Capitol siege has cast a shadow over Cassidy throughout his second term in the Senate.

John Martin, a 68-year-old retired engineer from south Louisiana, said he would vote for Letlow because he was still upset by Cassidy’s decision. He held up a flyer from Letlow’s campaign showing her alongside the president.

“I know a lot more about Cassidy than I do about her,” Martin said. “But if it’s supported by Trump, I’ll believe it.”

Cassidy avoided Trump’s wrath last year, supporting Kennedy to lead the Department of Health and Human Services despite her public reservations about the candidate’s anti-vaccine views.

Mark Workman, a 75-year-old retired infectious diseases doctor from suburban New Orleans, said he supports Fleming. If Cassidy “had stood up and blocked RFK,” Workman said, he would have supported the senator for taking a strong and courageous stand.

“He had the ability to stop it,” Workman said, “and he was too weak to do it.”

As chairman of the Senate Health Committee, Cassidy has been more publicly critical of Kennedy, particularly over funding cuts for vaccine development.

Trump blamed Cassidy for the failure to nominate his second choice for surgeon general, Casey Means, who raised doubts about vaccinating newborns against hepatitis B, a practice Cassidy supported.

Trump withdrew Means’ nomination and blasted Cassidy.

“I hope all the great Louisiana Republicans, who I won BIGLY three times, vote Bill Cassidy OUT OF OFFICE in the next Republican primary!” Trump posted on social media.

Republican Gov. Jeff Landry’s decision to postpone the congressional primary could weigh against Cassidy. That could dampen turnout among less fervently pro-Trump voters, Wray said, especially if there is confusion over the timeline.

“The suspension of the congressional primaries hurts Cassidy,” she said. “Some people think the Senate primaries are canceled.”

Cassidy complained Friday that the new primary system adopted last year confused voters by forcing them to request a partisan runoff instead of the previous multiparty primary that was in place. He said some called his office to say they couldn’t vote for him.

“The process that was put in place was intended to be confusing,” Cassidy told reporters.

Letlow considered running last year, but only entered the race after Trump announced his support in January.

At that time, Fleming, a former House member and Trump administration official who was elected state treasurer in 2023, was already in the race as a staunch Trump supporter. But Landry was looking for a better-known challenger, and he suggested Letlow to the president.

Letlow’s entry into politics was unconventional and tragic.

In 2020, while she was a university administrator, her husband Luke was elected to the United States House of Representatives, but died of COVID-19 before he could take the oath of office. Letlow ran for and won the seat in a March 2021 special election and was re-elected in 2022 and 2024.

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Beaumont reported from Des Moines, Iowa.