{"id":1164,"date":"2026-05-16T11:47:22","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T11:47:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usglobalnews.com\/?p=1164"},"modified":"2026-05-16T11:47:22","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T11:47:22","slug":"republican-louisiana-senator-in-tough-primary-after-trump-backs-opponent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usglobalnews.com\/?p=1164","title":{"rendered":"Republican Louisiana senator in tough primary after Trump backs opponent"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"border-color:var(--article-border);background-color:var(--article-inner-background)\" class=\"dcr-wqti5a\">\n<div class=\"dcr-2zxs1v\">\n<div style=\"--grid-area:media\" data-gu-name=\"media\" class=\"dcr-1fnjjtg\">\n<div class=\"dcr-14emo0l\">\n<div class=\"dcr-tr9ye5\">\n<figure id=\"465d2df1-3678-4ed0-a401-264c4609c358\" class=\"dcr-142siv7\">\n<div id=\"img-1\" class=\"dcr-1t8m8f2\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"a man behind a desk \" src=\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/727cac8f78633bafa7152ec6481ab9179e55260c\/0_0_4234_2823\/master\/4234.jpg?width=465&amp;dpr=1&amp;s=none&amp;crop=none\" width=\"465\" height=\"310.0366084081247\" loading=\"eager\" class=\"dcr-evn1e9\"><span class=\"dcr-v822l1\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"dcr-gup2gr\">\n<div class=\"dcr-fntg6k\"><label for=\"the-checkbox\" class=\"dcr-1xgwz8b\"><\/label> <\/p>\n<div id=\"the-caption\"><figcaption data-spacefinder-role=\"inline\" class=\"dcr-1os51wo\"><span class=\"dcr-hvsf4t\"><\/span><span class=\"dcr-1qvd3m6\">Bill Cassidy in Washington DC on 13 February 2025.<\/span> Photograph: Jacquelyn Martin\/AP<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/span><a href=\"#img-1\" data-ignore=\"global-link-styling\" class=\"open-lightbox dcr-13fd1ms\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><button data-element-id=\"465d2df1-3678-4ed0-a401-264c4609c358\" type=\"button\" class=\"open-lightbox dcr-4tmywn\" aria-haspopup=\"dialog\"><span class=\"dcr-194i6pr\">View image in fullscreen<\/span><\/button><\/a><\/div>\n<p><span class=\"dcr-n4pnam\"><figcaption data-spacefinder-role=\"inline\" class=\"dcr-1hdkqum\"><span class=\"dcr-hvsf4t\"><\/span><span class=\"dcr-1qvd3m6\">Bill Cassidy in Washington DC on 13 February 2025.<\/span> Photograph: Jacquelyn Martin\/AP<\/figcaption><\/span><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"--grid-area:border\" data-gu-name=\"border\" class=\"dcr-1fnjjtg\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"--grid-area:headline\" data-gu-name=\"headline\" class=\"dcr-1fnjjtg\">\n<div class=\"dcr-14emo0l\">\n<div class=\"dcr-1aqe7zu\">\n<h1 class=\"dcr-1k1a1x\">Republican Louisiana senator in tough primary after Trump backs opponent<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"--grid-area:standfirst\" data-gu-name=\"standfirst\" class=\"dcr-1fnjjtg\">\n<div class=\"dcr-15in7js\">\n<p>Bill Cassidy raised ire of US president for voting to impeach after January 6 \u2013 so Trump is backing Julia Letlow<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"--grid-area:body\" data-gu-name=\"body\" class=\"dcr-kn9unn\">\n<div class=\"dcr-1a4fred\">\n<div id=\"maincontent\" class=\"dcr-ydnaza\">\n<div class=\"article-body-commercial-selector article-body-viewer-selector dcr-1c9t5u6\">\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">The power of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/donaldtrump\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">Donald Trump<\/a>\u2019s endorsement will be put to its latest test on Saturday, when Louisiana holds primary elections in which the US senator Bill Cassidy, who voted to impeach the president following the January 6 insurrection, then tried to make amends by casting the pivotal vote to confirm <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/robert-f-kennedy-jr\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">Robert F Kennedy Jr<\/a> as health secretary, stands a chance of losing his party\u2019s nomination.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">An incumbent Republican running for a third term representing a deeply Republican state, Cassidy would normally be a shoo-in for re-election. But in January, Trump <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2026\/jan\/18\/trump-senator-bill-cassidy-primary\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">abruptly said<\/a> that the US representative Julia Letlow should run against Cassidy and offered his endorsement, underscoring his continued willingness to seek revenge against anyone in the Republican party who has crossed him.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">The president\u2019s campaign to oust a senator of his own party \u2013 the sort of thing that was unheard of in previous administrations, but not under Trump \u2013 may have achieved the desired effect. Letlow promptly jumped into the Republican Senate primary, as did state treasurer and former representative John Fleming. An Emerson College poll released <a href=\"https:\/\/emersoncollegepolling.com\/louisiana-2026-poll-fleming-letlow-cassidy-in-close-three-way-race-for-senate\/\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">last month<\/a> showed Cassidy in third place among likely Republican voters, with Fleming and Letlow neck and neck for the lead.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">\u201cThis is a primary that is mostly about Trump,\u201d said Robert Hogan, a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/louisiana\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" data-component=\"auto-linked-tag\">Louisiana<\/a> State University political science professor, adding that the president\u2019s spurning of Cassidy was probably the \u201cdeath knell\u201d for his time in the Senate.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Should he indeed lose re-election this year, Cassidy would join a growing list of Republicans whose political careers have ended at Trump\u2019s hands. Earlier this month, five of the seven Republican Indiana state senators who halted a Trump-backed effort to gerrymander the state in Republicans\u2019 favor <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2026\/may\/05\/indiana-republicans-donald-trump\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">lost their primaries<\/a>. In North Carolina, Republicans are in a high-stakes battle to keep hold of one of their Senate seats because Thom Tillis has opted to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2025\/jun\/29\/trump-big-beautiful-bill\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">retire<\/a>, after breaking with Trump last year over his top domestic policy bill.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">A gastroenterologist who co-founded a clinic serving uninsured patients in Baton Rouge, Cassidy served in the House of Representatives before beating the Democratic senator Mary Landrieu in 2014. During Trump\u2019s first term, he was an architect of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2017\/sep\/18\/obamacare-affordable-care-act-republican-repeal-bill\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">failed Republican effort<\/a> to repeal the Affordable Care Act.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">His relationship with the president soured following the assault on the Capitol by the president\u2019s supporters, after which Cassidy and six other Republicans voted <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2021\/feb\/13\/donald-trump-acquitted-impeachment-trial\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">to convict<\/a> Trump in the Senate, but the effort came up short. Cassidy later supported a fruitless attempt to establish an independent commission investigating the insurrection, and called on Trump to end his 2024 re-election bid after his indictment for allegedly possessing classified material.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Louisiana\u2019s Republican party censured Cassidy in 2021 for his vote in Trump\u2019s trial, and the senator\u2019s political peril intensified when Trump returned to the White House last year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Cassidy cast the deciding vote to advance vaccine skeptic Kennedy\u2019s nomination to lead the Department of Health and Human Services out of the Senate health committee, which he chairs. The decision flew in the face of the senator\u2019s training as a physician and his stated support for immunizations, and was widely seen as an attempt to smooth things over with the president.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Trump\u2019s endorsement of Letlow made clear the senator\u2019s effort was insufficient. Cassidy has meanwhile criticized some of Kennedy\u2019s policies as secretary, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2026\/apr\/30\/trump-withdraws-nomination-casey-means\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">opposed<\/a> Trump\u2019s attempt to have the wellness influencer Casey Means confirmed as US surgeon general, leading Trump to blame the senator for having to withdraw her nomination.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">In Louisiana, changes to the primary system probably worsened the prospects for Cassidy\u2019s political career. In 2024, the Republican governor, Jeff Landry, a prominent Trump supporter, worked with the legislature to change the rules of the state\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/us-senate\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" data-component=\"auto-linked-tag\">US Senate<\/a> primaries so that candidates are nominated only by party members and unaffiliated voters. Ron Faucheux, a veteran political strategist in Louisiana, said he suspected the changes were intended to ensure that Republicans like Cassidy who fall out of favor with Trump have no avenue to remain in office.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">\u201cThe new primary system is geared to help staunch, conservative, pro-Trump candidates get elected, because it\u2019s geared to nominate them on the Republican side and putting them in the runoffs against Democrats, [who] nobody thinks can win,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Cassidy\u2019s campaign has acknowledged the difficulty of this year\u2019s re-election campaign, and said their goal is for the senator to finish in the top two of the primary, and advance to a runoff election scheduled for next month.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">\u201cThe mission is pretty simple. It\u2019s to go out, get as many votes as we can on Saturday and position ourselves well for the runoff election to come in June,\u201d campaign consultant Mark Harris told reporters this week.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Both of Cassidy\u2019s challengers have sought to convince voters they are the president\u2019s choice, with Letlow noting her endorsements from both Trump and Landry, and Fleming\u2019s campaign distributing photos of him posing with the president.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Cassidy has meanwhile focused on criticizing Letlow, saying that the race was hers to lose. Dubbing her \u201cLib Letlow\u201d, his campaign has seized on comments she made in support of campus diversity programs while interviewing to lead the University of Louisiana at Monroe. Letlow has since publicly repudiated those initiatives.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">If there\u2019s a saving grace for Cassidy, it could be unaffiliated voters, whose views have not been captured in polls, Faucheux said. But even if Cassidy makes it to a runoff, the president\u2019s opposition will present a significant headwind.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">\u201cMy guess is that a runoff would be tough for Cassidy, because even though there\u2019s a lot of personal animosity between Letlow and Fleming in the campaign, I think a lot of their voters would tend to be pretty strongly pro-Trump voters,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-print-layout=\"hide\" class=\"dcr-qxqnsy\"><span class=\"dcr-1rq3vad\">Explore more on these topics<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"dcr-1dzx48f\">\n<ul class=\"dcr-1rrvs2w\">\n<li class=\"dcr-hj8byr\"><a href=\"\/us-news\/us-senate\" class=\"dcr-1gwziyt\">US Senate<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"dcr-hj8byr\"><a href=\"\/us-news\/louisiana\" class=\"dcr-1gwziyt\">Louisiana<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"dcr-hj8byr\"><a href=\"\/us-news\/donaldtrump\" class=\"dcr-1gwziyt\">Donald Trump<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"dcr-hj8byr\"><a href=\"\/us-news\/us-congress\" class=\"dcr-1gwziyt\">US Congress<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"dcr-hj8byr\"><a href=\"\/us-news\/us-politics\" class=\"dcr-1gwziyt\">US politics<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"dcr-hj8byr\"><a href=\"\/tone\/news\" class=\"dcr-1gwziyt\">news<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"dcr-nu129i\"><a href=\"mailto:?subject=Republican%20Louisiana%20senator%20in%20tough%20primary%20after%20Trump%20backs%20opponent&amp;body=https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2026\/may\/16\/trump-bill-cassidy-louisiana-senate-race?CMP=share_btn_url\" class=\"dcr-125qj9d\">Share<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"dcr-zhx6xs\"><a data-link-name=\"meta-syndication-article\" href=\"https:\/\/syndication.theguardian.com\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fus-news%2F2026%2Fmay%2F16%2Ftrump-bill-cassidy-louisiana-senate-race&amp;type=article&amp;internalpagecode=us-news\/2026\/may\/16\/trump-bill-cassidy-louisiana-senate-race\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"Reuse this content\" class=\"dcr-14rjinq\">Reuse this content<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"--grid-area:right-column\" data-gu-name=\"right-column\" class=\"dcr-1h2hraq\">\n<div class=\"dcr-tn16h9\">\n<section class=\"dcr-1hko8ef\"><\/section>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bill Cassidy in Washington DC on 13 February 2025. Photograph: Jacquelyn Martin\/AP View image in fullscreen Bill Cassidy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":1165,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1164","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1164","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1164"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1164\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1166,"href":"https:\/\/usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1164\/revisions\/1166"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1165"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}