{"id":22826,"date":"2026-05-16T15:32:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T15:32:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/cassidy-defiant-as-trumps-revenge-campaign-closes-in\/"},"modified":"2026-05-16T15:32:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T15:32:09","slug":"cassidy-defiant-as-trumps-revenge-campaign-closes-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/cassidy-defiant-as-trumps-revenge-campaign-closes-in\/","title":{"rendered":"Cassidy defiant as Trump’s revenge campaign closes in"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

As Bill Cassidy fights for his political life, he\u2019s refusing to acknowledge the political gravity surrounding him.<\/p>\n

Five years after he cast a vote to convict President Donald Trump in his impeachment trial over Trump\u2019s election denialism and the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, Cassidy is facing a challenge from Trump-backed Rep. Julia Letlow (R-La.) and GOP State Treasurer John Fleming in a crucial Louisiana primary today that marks the next stop on Trump\u2019s revenge tour.<\/p>\n

In an interview with Blue Light News on Saturday, Cassidy sounded disconnected from the reality he faces, frequently referring only to Letlow as \u201cmy opponent\u201d while ignoring Fleming, and complaining about the state\u2019s shift to a closed party primary back in 2024.<\/p>\n

If Trump\u2019s push to oust Cassidy succeeds, it could unleash another rogue in the Senate with a vendetta against Trump and nothing left to lose.<\/p>\n

But Cassidy claims he\u2019s not thinking about that. Asked whether he would be a thorn in Trump\u2019s side in his remaining months in office should he go down and join other YOLO Republicans<\/a>, Cassidy sounded defiant.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to win today,\u201d Cassidy said. \u201cI may go into a runoff. But I\u2019m always going to vote for the good of my country and my people.\u201d<\/p>\n

If no candidate clears 50 percent in today\u2019s vote, the top two candidates will advance to a June 27 runoff. Recent polls show a tight three-way campaign<\/a>. Most polling puts Cassidy in third place, behind Letlow and Fleming, another MAGA candidate.<\/p>\n

Cassidy spoke with Blue Light News by phone before he made his Election Day rounds after attending a wedding Friday evening. He talked of his plans to improve affordability and criticized Letlow for not voting for the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don’t quite know why, but it takes courage, and so you got to know what’s right, and then you got to have the courage to do what’s right, and that’s what I have,\u201d Cassidy said. \u201cI’ve proven it. That’s what this race is about.\u201d<\/p>\n

But in the final hours before results roll in, the senator who drew Trump\u2019s ire over his impeachment vote was the one crying foul over voting issues.<\/p>\n

Cassidy echoed his concerns<\/a> about Louisiana\u2019s move to a closed primary system, telling Playbook he had just gotten off the phone with a \u201cNo Party\u201d voter who tried to cast a ballot for him but said he could not. Cassidy said he\u2019s communicating with Louisiana Secretary of State Nancy Landy, who he said is investigating. A spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday, I’m trying to make sure that people are able to exercise their right to vote \u2026 in a system which, in effect, has been designed to prevent people from being able to cast their vote for me,\u201d Cassidy said.<\/p>\n

He brushed off MAHA\u2019s role in the primary. \u201cPeople in our state want someone who has delivered,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you’re talking about \u2018Making America Healthy Again,\u2019 my gosh, I’ve worked to make my state healthy again. And so if people are concerned about our state being healthier, then I’m your candidate.\u201d<\/p>\n

And he expressed no regrets over his impeachment decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is not something I think about.\u201d Cassidy said. \u201cIf my opponent is focused on that, she’s thinking about five years ago. I’m thinking about five years from now. If she wants to be wedded to the past, be wedded in the past, but by golly, you’re not working for the future. I’m working for the future, that’s where I’m focused.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite Cassidy\u2019s resoluteness, GOP sources in Louisiana see an increasingly bleak outlook for Cassidy \u2014 no matter where he finishes at the end of the day.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is almost a 0.0 percent chance that Bill Cassidy is coming back to the Senate,\u201d said an unaligned GOP strategist with experience running races in Louisiana and granted anonymity to assess the state of play.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s run a lot of ads,\u201d the person said, \u201cand the problem with his ads is he’s in them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like this content? Consider signing up for Blue Light News’s <\/i>Playbook newsletter<\/i><\/a>. <\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As Bill Cassidy fights for his political life, he\u2019s refusing to acknowledge the political gravity surrounding him. Five years after he cast a vote to convict President Donald Trump in his impeachment trial over Trump\u2019s election denialism and the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, Cassidy is facing a challenge from Trump-backed Rep. Julia Letlow (R-La.) and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22826","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22826","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=22826"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22826\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22826"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}