Trump-Backed Pair Advances After Cassidy Primary Defeat

Louisiana voters sent a blunt message on Saturday night when they knocked longtime Senator Bill Cassidy out of the Republican primary for his Senate seat. The two-term incumbent, one of just seven GOP senators to vote to convict President Trump in the 2021 impeachment trial tied to January 6, finished third with roughly 25 percent of the vote and failed to advance.

With more than half the ballots counted, Trump-endorsed Representative Julia Letlow led with about 45 percent. State Treasurer John Fleming trailed her at 28 percent. The pair will meet in a June 27 runoff. Cassidy, who had outspent his rivals and campaigned hard on his record, could not overcome the damage from his impeachment vote.

President Trump made his feelings known hours before polls opened. In a Truth Social post, he called Cassidy a disloyal disaster and a sleazebag who turned on the man who helped elect him. Trump reminded voters that Cassidy had campaigned as a strong supporter only to vote to remove the president over charges that have since been widely viewed as political theater. He urged voters to back the two challengers and said Louisiana deserved better.

The outcome fits a pattern that has repeated itself whenever Trump has singled out Republicans who broke with him on key issues. Cassidy was among the handful of GOP senators who sided with Democrats to convict Trump. Several of those senators retired rather than face voters again. Cassidy chose to run and paid the price.

In his concession remarks, Cassidy avoided naming Trump but took clear shots at the president and his supporters. He told the crowd that when democracy does not go your way, you do not pout, whine, or claim the election was stolen. The comments landed as a direct rebuke of the man who had made Cassidy a target for years.

Letlow, who has positioned herself as an ally of the president, benefited from that endorsement and from voter frustration with Cassidy’s record of working across the aisle on issues such as diversity initiatives. Fleming, a former Trump administration official, also drew strong support from the base that has grown weary of senators who put distance between themselves and the president’s agenda.

Trump celebrated the result online, noting that Cassidy’s political career now appears finished and calling the defeat unprecedented for a sitting senator. He quickly turned his attention to other Republicans he views as insufficiently loyal, including Representative Thomas Massie in Kentucky.

The Louisiana primary shows that the Republican electorate continues to punish those who joined efforts to remove Trump from office. Voters in the state made clear they have little patience for senators who campaign as allies and then deliver votes that help Democrats. Letlow and Fleming will now compete to carry that message into the general election.