The career of Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy came to a crashing end on Saturday night, when he failed to make the GOP runoff to seek reelection in November after being targeted for defeat by President Donald Trump.
The two top finishers, Rep. Julia Letlow and former Rep. John Fleming, have advanced to a run-off on June 27, according to the Associated Press, ahead of the general election in November, when Republicans are heavily favored to win.
Saturday’s primary was the first time Cassidy faced voters in his home state since 2021, when he voted to convict Trump in his second impeachment trial over his role in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.
“Insults only bother me if they come from somebody of character and integrity, and I find that people of character and integrity don’t spend their time attacking people on the internet,” Cassidy said, in a thinly veiled reference to the president.
Insults only bother me if they come from somebody of character and integrity, and I find that people of character and integrity don’t spend their time attacking people on the internet.”
Sen. bill cassidy, r-la.
“Our country is not about one individual,” he said. “It is about the welfare of all Americans, and it is about our Constitution.”
Trump immediately celebrated Cassidy’s loss, taking to Truth Social to accuse the senator of “falsely using his ‘relationship’ with me” to win elections and supporting his impeachment on “preposterous charges that were fake then, and now, are criminally insane!”
“His disloyalty to the man who got him elected is now a part of legend, and it’s nice to see that his political career is OVER!” Trump posted.
Letlow, who has served in the House since 2021, entered the race in January with Trump’s endorsement.
“I want to say thank you to a very special man who you all know, the best president this country has ever had, President Donald Trump,” Letlow told supporters in the evening, flanked by her two young children. “There is no greater endorsement than the endorsement of President Trump. We’ll always be singing that from the mountaintops.”
About Cassidy’s vote to convict Trump after his impeachment, Letlow said: “Louisiana was not pleased with that vote. They took that as a sign that he had turned his back on the Louisiana voters.”
“I want to say thank you to a very special man who you all know, the best president this country has ever had, President Donald Trump,” Letlow told supporters.
Fleming, a former congressman who also served in the first Trump administration, did not receive Donald Trump’s endorsement.
Polling ahead of Saturday’s election showed a tight race between Cassidy, Letlow and Fleming, with no clear favorite. That’s despite the fact that Cassidy had a clear fundraising advantage. According to figures from AdImpact, the incumbent and his supporters spent more than $17 million on advertising, while Letlow and Fleming dished out just $5 million and $680,000, respectively.
Recommended
The two-term senator has become a frequent target of the president since bucking his party and voting in favor of Trump’s second impeachment. He is one of three remaining Senate Republicans currently in office who voted to convict Trump.
In 2024, Trump won Louisiana with 60% of the vote.
The former physician has also frequently sparred with Trump’s health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. As chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, Cassidy was a crucial player in Kennedy’s confirmation but has since become a vocal critic of the secretary, questioning Kennedy’s views on vaccine safety and his firing of CDC advisors.
Unhappy with Cassidy’s independence, Trump urged Letlow to enter the race. She became the first Republican woman elected to Congress from Louisiana in 2021, after winning a special election for the House seat won earlier by her late husband, Luke, who died from complications due to a Covid infection five days before he was set to take office.
During his campaign, Fleming tried to position himself as the true MAGA candidate, despite lacking the president’s endorsement.
Saturday’s election was the first in Louisiana since the Supreme Court struck down the state’s congressional map, after the conservative majority said the creation of a new majority-Black district constituted an unconstitutional racial gerrymander.
Following that ruling, Louisiana Secretary of State Nancy Landry suspended primaries for the U.S. House of Representatives, which had also been scheduled for Saturday, to give lawmakers time to redraw the congressional maps.
The contest was also the first time in decades that Louisiana voters participated in a closed primary to select their candidates for a federal election. In 2024, the state moved to overhaul its primary system and shift away from what’s known as a “jungle primary.” Under the new system that’s more closed off, Republican and Democratic voters are confined to their respective parties’ nominating contests. But “no party” voters were allowed to vote Saturday in either the Republican or Democratic contests, but can’t switch sides if the primary heads to a runoff.
Hunter Woodall and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
Allison Detzel is an editor/producer for MS NOW. She was previously a segment producer for “AYMAN” and “The Mehdi Hasan Show.”