Trump-Backed Letlow Advances to Louisiana Senate Runoff After Ousting Cassidy

Louisiana voters rejected Republican Senator Bill Cassidy in Saturday’s primary and advanced two challengers to a June 27 runoff.

Cassidy’s bid for a third term was damaged by his vote to convict Donald Trump after the January 6 insurrection. Last year he cast the deciding vote to advance Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nomination to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, despite his own support for vaccines and his background as a physician.

Trump had urged Representative Julia Letlow to run against Cassidy and endorsed her. On Saturday morning he called Cassidy “a disloyal disaster” and “a terrible guy,” criticized the impeachment vote, and said Letlow was “a winner who will NEVER let you down.”

With 98 percent of the vote counted, the Associated Press reported Letlow received 45.2 percent, state Treasurer John Fleming received 28.3 percent, and Cassidy finished third with 24.4 percent.

Cassidy’s loss follows other Republican setbacks tied to opposition to Trump. Five of seven Indiana state senators who blocked a Trump-backed redistricting plan lost their primaries earlier this month. In North Carolina, Senator Thom Tillis is retiring after breaking with Trump over a domestic policy bill.

Louisiana Republicans censured Cassidy after his impeachment vote. He later backed an independent commission on the insurrection and urged Trump to drop his 2024 bid after the classified-documents indictment. Even after supporting Kennedy’s confirmation, Cassidy criticized some of the health secretary’s policies and opposed Trump’s choice of Casey Means for surgeon general.