{"id":22822,"date":"2026-05-16T14:02:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T14:02:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/bill-cassidys-last-stand\/"},"modified":"2026-05-16T14:02:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T14:02:08","slug":"bill-cassidys-last-stand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/bill-cassidys-last-stand\/","title":{"rendered":"Bill Cassidy\u2019s last stand?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy is on the ropes.<\/p>\n

The Republican is fighting for his political life as he fends off two primary challengers capitalizing on MAGA outrage over his 2021 impeachment vote against President Donald Trump. In Louisiana, there\u2019s a growing belief that Cassidy wont be able to overcome strong headwinds to even nab a run-off spot in the primary election on Saturday, according to nearly a dozen interviews with GOP officials, lawmakers and strategists in the state.<\/p>\n

Should Cassidy finish third and lose outright, it would mark a stunning defeat for the two-term incumbent and herald a significant win for Trump in his grudge match against Republicans who cross him.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen it comes to stabbing Trump in the back with that vote to impeach, the memories are very long,\u201d said Kevin Berken, the Jefferson Davis Parish GOP chair, who opposes Cassidy in the race and is leaning toward supporting Fleming.<\/p>\n

Most polling puts Cassidy in third place, behind Trump-endorsed Rep. Julia Letlow and State Treasurer John Fleming, another MAGA candidate. Cassidy was ostracized by the state Republican Party following his impeachment vote. Trump has continued to slam him as \u201cvery disloyal,\u201d<\/a> urging Louisiana Republicans to vote him out.<\/p>\n

The Louisiana GOP primary is the latest stop in Trump\u2019s revenge tour this month, with a number of his biggest enemies fighting for reelection. It began in Indiana, where the president and his allies successfully ousted five state lawmakers as punishment for refusing to redraw congressional lines in favor of the GOP. After Cassidy\u2019s race, Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie is up next with his primary on May 19.<\/p>\n

Still, in Louisiana, Trump hasn\u2019t done much to boost his chosen candidate.<\/p>\n

On Friday, he reupped his support for Letlow, calling her a \u201cTOTAL WINNER\u201d in a post<\/a> on Truth Social. But beyond a few posts online, Trump has been largely silent, despite pushing her into the race in January with his endorsement. He continues to withhold<\/a> his massive $300 million-plus MAGA Inc. war chest and did not make an appearance on her behalf during the campaign.<\/p>\n

The White House did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

\"Senate<\/p>\n

The Cassidy campaign has said it is well aware of the challenges confronting them, but they remain confident about the senator\u2019s chances given his record in Congress. Cassidy Campaign Manager Mark Harris said this week that their data shows the incumbent will likely not finish first but is in a good position to qualify for the run-off, thanks in part to a high number of non-party voters casting ballots in Louisiana\u2019s closed primary.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s sort of Julia’s to lose in the first round,\u201d Harris said. \u201cOur data indicates we have a very strong chance to put together a winning coalition, and then [win] in the run-off.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Cassidy\u2019s history of frustrating MAGA goes beyond just the impeachment vote. He rankled the MAGA faithful \u2014 and the emerging Make America Healthy Again coalition \u2014 by sharply questioning Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on vaccines during his Senate confirmation. He further angered the MAHA movement by helping block the nomination of health influencer Casey Means to be U.S. Surgeon General.<\/p>\n

His actions have pushed the Kennedy-aligned MAHA PAC to pledge spending $1 million on Letlow\u2019s behalf<\/a> as they seek to oust Cassidy \u2014 though the influence of its spending remains to be seen.<\/p>\n

\u201cMAHA issues are in fact central to this race and to races all around the country, where in many cases they poll higher than most other issues for voters, especially for the all-important undecided voters,\u201d MAHA PAC leader Tony Lyons previously told Blue Light News in a text. \u201cIt\u2019s true that Big Pharma and big food would like to convince voters otherwise, but Julia Letlow is a strong insurgent candidate and she will win.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nonpartisan polling shows Cassidy trailing both Fleming and Letlow, with an Emerson College Survey<\/a> from late April putting him at 21 percent support, behind Fleming at 28 percent and Letlow at 27 percent. Cassidy\u2019s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019ve known all along is now becoming clear to everyone watching this race: Julia Letlow has the support, the momentum, and the trust of Louisiana Republicans,\u201d said Katherine Thordahl, Letlow campaign spokesperson, in a statement. \u201cUnfortunately for Bill Cassidy, Louisianans have never forgotten Bill Cassidy\u2019s vote to convict President Trump, which remains the defining contrast in this race.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cassidy\u2019s path to a run-off isn\u2019t completely closed.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s benefitting from the anti-Cassidy MAGA vote being split between Letlow and Fleming, who has summoned strong grassroots support throughout his campaign. Fleming has declared himself the most conservative candidate in the race, pointing to his record as a member of the House Freedom Caucus. He also served as a White House aide during Trump\u2019s first administration as deputy chief of staff.<\/p>\n

\u201cNeither one of them can claim a stronger conservative voting record,\u201d Fleming said in an interview. \u201cBetween them, I stand alone so I think that’s the real driver of my lead on this.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Senate<\/p>\n

Berken said in an interview he was leaning toward supporting Fleming due to his conservative credentials. \u201cI know what I get with John Fleming, and even though President Trump endorsed Julia, I think he did that at Governor Landry’s behest,\u201d he said, referring to GOP Gov. Jeff Landry\u2019s campaign to elect Letlow to the Senate.<\/a><\/p>\n

Letlow and Fleming have spent the final days of the campaign attacking each other, a sign that they expect to face each other in the run-off \u2014 or that they believe Cassidy may end up pulling off a surprising rise if they continue to split the MAGA vote.<\/p>\n

Cassidy, meanwhile, continues to train all of his fire on Letlow in the home stretch. The senator has attempted to cast her as insufficiently conservative, nicknaming her \u201cLiberal Letlow\u201d and hammering her for past comments she made in support of diversity initiatives in higher education. Letlow has since disavowed those programs, arguing they have been hijacked by the left.<\/p>\n

By going so hard against Letlow, “Cassidy’s committing murder suicide,” said one Louisiana GOP strategist who\u2019s unaffiliated in the race, granted anonymity to speak freely. The strategist predicted that Fleming would emerge with the most votes.<\/p>\n

Letlow, in response to negative campaigning from both of her opponents, has made Trump\u2019s endorsement the centerpiece of her campaign, offered up as proof she passes the MAGA litmus test.<\/p>\n

“What I’m hearing is this actually looks pretty, pretty tight, with a lot of undecideds right now,” said Jamey Sandefur, chair of the Livingston Parish GOP. “I’m getting the sense that a lot of people are walking into the booth and deciding when they get there.”<\/p>\n

“I’ve always thought that endorsements don’t really matter, but I have heard a lot of people tell me that the Trump endorsement of Congresswoman Letlow is going to be the deciding factor for them,\u201d he said. \u201cSo that’s playing in the race a lot more than I had expected.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy is on the ropes. The Republican is fighting for his political life as he fends off two primary challengers capitalizing on MAGA outrage over his 2021 impeachment vote against President Donald Trump. In Louisiana, there\u2019s a growing belief that Cassidy wont be able to overcome strong headwinds to even nab a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":22823,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22822","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22822","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22822"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22822\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22823"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22822"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22822"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22822"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}