Congress

No YOLO yet: Bill Cassidy insists he won’t be out for revenge against Trump

Published

5 months ago

May 19, 2026

Donald Trump got his revenge on Sen. Bill Cassidy. The Louisiana Republican says he isn’t planning to return the favor — yet.

Freed from political constraints after decisively losing his battle for renomination Saturday, Cassidy could — if he chooses — gum up major parts of Trump’s agenda on Capitol Hill. To start with, he holds what amounts to veto power over key nominees as chair of the Senate committee overseeing health care, labor and education and as a member of the powerful Senate Finance Committee.

Cassidy, in multiple lengthy chats with reporters Monday around the Capitol, batted down any suggestion he is now liberated to challenge Trump head-on. But he also declined to say how he would handle tricky upcoming votes on the Iran war or an immigration enforcement bill and urged Washington to embrace bipartisanship.

“Am I going to deliberately push back on things? No, I’m going to do what’s good for my country and my state,” he said.

Asked about the nominees coming through the panel he chairs — which could include a new Labor secretary and FDA commissioner — Cassidy noted that there were already nominees who were not able to get through the committee.

“I’m going to continue to do what is best for my state and best for my country and try and make every decision with that consideration,” he said about whether his approach to the administration will change.

Those comments came after Cassidy delivered a withering, if veiled, condemnation of Trump in his concession speech, raising the possibility that he could become increasingly outspoken in his disagreements with the president over the next seven months.

Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., speaks to supporters during an election night watch party Saturday, May 16, 2026, in Baton Rouge, La.

“Insults only bother me if they come from somebody of character and integrity. I find that people of character and integrity don’t spend their time attacking people on the internet,” Cassidy said during the speech Saturday night.

Cassidy largely avoided addressing Trump directly when speaking with reporters Monday. He declined to say, for instance, if he thought Trump had done something that constituted a high crime or misdemeanor during his second term. He was one of the seven Republicans to vote to convict the president on impeachment charges after the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol by a mob of Trump supporters.

Instead, Cassidy said he wanted to “give a better vision of how we should do things” and signaled that’s an area where he will speak out on before his term ends in early January.

“I think people want me to say negative things,” he said. “I’m saying positive things, positive things that may reflect upon the current circumstance, but it’s coming from my heart about making my country a better place, and that’s my goal.”

Cassidy’s avowed attitude could be a sigh of relief for Senate Republicans, who need near-complete unity to confirm nominees or advance legislation through the Senate unless they can win over Democratic votes.

Republicans already have several members who are retiring, and while they generally vote with the party, former GOP Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina have shown a willingness to break with the president on key issues.

“I don’t see him going in the way of a Thom Tillis, or something like that, to cause unnecessary problems,” said a former Cassidy aide granted anonymity to candidly assess the senator’s thinking. “I think he’ll continue to do what he’s always done, which is just kind of do what he feels is right. I would be surprised if he goes on the warpath.”

Saturday’s loss was the culmination of a politically tortuous year for Cassidy, who stifled his concerns and advanced several controversial Trump nominees — most prominently HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

He also told colleagues — and Blue Light News — last year that the White House had assured him Trump would stay neutral in the primary, something some GOP senators were privately skeptical about given the president’s mercurial nature and lingering anger over the 2021 vote.

Trump instead endorsed a primary opponent, Rep. Julia Letlow, as payback for Cassidy’s 2021 conviction vote. She won a plurality Saturday and will face former Rep. John Fleming in a June 27 runoff.

Cassidy said Monday he had no regrets over the conviction vote.

“I actually voted to uphold the Constitution — that’s a better way to put it,” Cassidy said. “That may have cost me my seat, but who cares?”

The White House did not respond to a request for comment on concerns over Cassidy blocking legislative priorities or nominees.

A name plate and the seal of the state of Louisiana are seen outside the office of Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) on Capitol Hill on May 18, 2026.

A former administration official from Trump’s first term said the president’s team understood the risks of not endorsing Cassidy and isn’t worried about the senator going into YOLO mode now.

“This is the outcome they wanted — I think that they had factored all of that in from the beginning,” the person said. “I don’t see any regret coming out of them. Cassidy would have been a thorn in the side all the way through the end. And, to be honest, once he got past an election, I don’t think he would care anymore, because who’s going to be gone first — Trump or Cassidy?”

The person added that Cassidy won’t be the only senator on his way out the door looking to block nominees from the president, suggesting the White House could keep acting officials in place until a new Congress is seated next year.

Several of his colleagues downplayed that Cassidy, who is known within the conference for being a low-key health-policy wonk, would suddenly reinvent himself as a major gadfly for Senate leadership or the White House.

But there are already signs that Cassidy might be freer with his post-election tongue.

Asked Monday about the Justice Department’s establishment of a controversial “antiweaponization” fund to pay settlements to people allegedly targeted by Democratic administrations, the senator said he didn’t see a “legal precedent” for it.

Cassidy’s delegation mate, GOP Sen. John Kennedy said, he is “very nonemotional in the way he makes his decisions.”

“He’s very analytical, and personally, I think Bill will just continue to do what he’s always done, just call it like he sees it,” he added.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune called Cassidy a “team player” who wants to “see our team succeed.”

“He’s got several months here in which he can be a real force for change and a factor in trying to get some things done, and chairs an incredibly significant, powerful committee here, and we look forward to continuing to work with him,” Thune said.

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), a member of the committee Cassidy chairs, largely declined to comment on the race but noted that he’s got bills he wants to get through the panel before the end of the year.

“I’m going to be really nice to him,” Hawley said.

Kelsey Brugger, Calen Razor and Hailey Fuchs contributed to this report.

Congress

NRSC takes on $20M in loans

Published

10 hours ago

October 20, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Senate Republicans’ campaign arm took out $20 million in loans in September, a significant cash infusion as the party looks to fight an increasingly challenging map ahead of November’s midterm elections.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee incurred a $17 million loan on Sep. 1 and another $3 million on Sep. 22, according to a filing submitted to the Federal Election Commission on Tuesday.

The need for cash comes after months of the NRSC and other GOP groups boasting about their large cash advantage over Democrats, as the party floods the airwaves in an effort to win core battlegrounds in an unfavorable environment.

The organization framed the loan as part of continuing that cash advantage.

“The NRSC has raised record-breaking resources, consistently maintained one of the lowest burn rates across all committees, and furthered the efficacy of every dollar by immediately acting on the fall of unlimited coordinated spending with our candidates,” NRSC communications director Joanna Rodriguez said in a statement. “We’re going to throw everything we can at protecting our Republican Senate Majority, and we’re going to win.”

It’s not unusual for campaign arms to take out loans late in an election cycle. In 2024, the NRSC took out $17 million in loans, and it borrowed $20 million during the 2022 cycle as well, according to FEC reports.

The NRSC has raised $228 million this cycle compared to $188 million for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, but Democratic Senate candidates have far outraised Republican ones.

The NRSC had $28 million in the bank, including the loan, at the end of September after raising $31 million and spending $41 million in the month, although a slight majority of the funds raised — $18 million — came via transfers from the Republican National Committee.

The DSCC, by comparison, ended September with just under $25 million in the bank. It had not taken out any loans this cycle as of that point.

Unlike past cycles, political parties can now more freely pay for advertising in coordination with candidates — and at a much cheaper rate. That will allow the party to stretch the $20 million further than in past election cycles.

In September, the NRSC put just under $34 million into coordinated spending, all of it on advertising, according to the Tuesday FEC filing.

Congress

Senate Democrats start spending in Mississippi

Published

15 hours ago

October 20, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Democrats’ money machine is on its way to Mississippi.

Senate Majority PAC is putting an initial $1.2 million on television statewide through Election Day to boost Scott Colom, the group announced Tuesday — another plunge into deep-red territory for Democrats as they take advantage of a dismal environment for Republicans.

Colom, a local prosecutor, has gained on GOP Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith in recent public polling, and has started to gain the attention of national Democrats. Some Senators, including Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock and Arizona Sen. Ruben Gallego, have pushed for more party investment in the race, which they believe in the right environment could flip a traditionally red seat.

But until now, Democrats said their resources were stretched too thin across a widening map that would allow them to play in the Magnolia State.

SMP is launching its first ad Wednesday attacking Hyde-Smith as a “do-nothing” senator and is planning a digital program as well. Lauren French, a spokesperson for SMP, said in a statement that “it is clear Colom is running a competitive race that has put Hyde-Smith on her heels.”

Hyde-Smith’s campaign downplayed the race’s competitiveness while tying Colom to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.

“It took Chuck Schumer and his Super PACs thirteen months to run a single ad for Scott Colom,” Hyde-Smith campaign spokesperson Nathan Calvert said in a statement. “Chuck knows what Mississippians know, Scott Colom is too liberal, supports transgender surgeries for children, men in women’s restrooms and locker rooms, open borders, and higher taxes. Team Cindy is confident that voters will reject this radical agenda at the ballot box on November 3rd.”

Colom’s campaign didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment.

Other national Democrats have started paying attention to the race too, with several set to descend on Mississippi ahead of Election Day. Former Vice President Kamala Harris will campaign alongside Colom later this week, and former Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg will hit the trail next week.

The state has the highest proportion of Black people in the nation, giving Democrats a high base of support in most elections — and has long left Democrats dreaming they could win statewide, having invested some resources in recent Senate and governor’s races over the past decade. Hyde-Smith did not top 55% of the vote in either of her previous elections, and Colom has seized on an interview clip when she was asked about the high price of beef: “You know, you have so many proteins to choose from.”.

Still, despite the overall positive environment for the party, flipping the seat remains a steep uphill battle. Republicans control all levers of state government, and Trump handily won by 24 points in 2024. The last time Mississippians elected a Democrat statewide was 2015, and the last time the state sent a Democrat to the Senate was 1982.

SMP’s investment in Mississippi follows multimillion-dollar dives into Kansas and Texas that collectively show how far the Senate map has shifted onto red turf in the midterm’s closing weeks. The Chuck Schumer-aligned group has also cut back on spending on television in North Carolina and Georgia in recent weeks amid increasingly bullish outlooks for Democrats Roy Cooper and Sen. Jon Ossoff, respectively.

Congress

DCCC launches ads against Mike Turner in red Ohio district

Published

24 hours ago

October 20, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

House Democrats’ campaign arm is launching its first ad buy against seven-term GOP Rep. Mike Turner in his western Ohio district as they seek to turn up the pressure on Republicans in once-safe red seats.

The DCCC is dropping separate six-figure buys on two coordinated television ads boosting challenger Kristina Knickerbocker, spokesperson Riya Vashi said — a remarkable investment considering Turner won in 2024 by over 18 percentage points, overperforming President Donald Trump.

Ohio adopted a new redistricted congressional map last year that was expected to favor Republicans. Turner’s 10th District voted for Trump by 6 points in 2024; under the new lines it would have been closer to 8 points.

The first ad airing this week opens with a woman saying, “It’s time we had someone in Congress who actually stands up for us” as Knickerbocker jogs through a neighborhood.

Democrats are eyeing Turner’s Dayton-area seat as a reach opportunity. A new internal DCCC poll of 535 likely general election voters reviewed by Blue Light News shows Knickerbocker running three percentage points ahead of Turner. Polling from this summer showed Turner leading the race.

Another Democratic group, House Majority PAC, has already poured more than a million dollars into the race against Turner and has reservations planned through Nov. 3. Knickerbocker is not on the DCCC’s “Red to Blue” roster of candidates who get the bulk of its resources.

“Alarm bells should be ringing for Mike Turner,” Vashi said in a statement. “Kristina Knickerbocker has the momentum in this race, and the DCCC will make sure every voter in this district knows exactly how Turner has betrayed them.”

But the NRCC has been spending in the district for several weeks to boost Turner. House Republican campaign operatives are so far dismissing efforts to flip the seat.

NRCC spokesperson Zach Bannon called Turner “a life-long Ohioan who has a record of cutting taxes, lowering costs, and making Ohio streets safer.”

“While Congressman Turner delivers commonsense conservative wins, out of touch Democrat Kristina Knickerbocker supports a radical far-left agenda,” Bannon said. “This November, Ohioans will reject liberal Knickerbocker and send Congressman Mike Turner back to Congress.”