Trump endorsement helps unseat Sen. Bill Cassidy in Louisiana GOP primary

President Donald Trump's endorsement helped unseat Sen. Bill Cassidy in Louisiana's Republican Senate primary on Saturday.

Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., said the outcome was predictable. "Unless you're God's perfect idiot, the result was predictable," Kennedy told The Sunday Briefing. He said polls had shown for more than a year that Cassidy was in trouble and that Trump's backing of Rep. Julia Letlow was the final push.

Letlow received about 45 percent of the vote. State Treasurer John Fleming took roughly 28 percent, and Cassidy finished third with just under 25 percent, according to The Associated Press. Letlow and Fleming will meet in a runoff because neither reached 50 percent.

Cassidy voted to convict Trump in his impeachment trial more than five years ago. Trump called Cassidy "a disloyal disaster" and "a sleazebag, a terrible guy, who is BAD FOR LOUISIANA" on Saturday morning. After the results, Trump posted that it was "nice to see that his political career is OVER!"

In his concession speech, Cassidy appeared to take a jab at the president. "When you participate in democracy, sometimes it doesn't turn out the way you want it to, but you don't pout, you don't whine. You don't claim the election was stolen," he said. "You thank the voters for the privilege of representing the state or the country for as long as you've had that privilege. And that's what I'm doing right now."

Kennedy said Trump's endorsement carried a large impact but added that other factors also played a role. He pointed to voter anger over the state's switch from open to closed primaries and confusion caused by the legislature's decision to postpone congressional elections while keeping the Senate race on the ballot.