Updated May 17, 2026 at 1:16 PM EDT
Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, one of seven Republican senators who voted to remove President Trump from office after the January 6th insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, lost his bid for reelection.
Louisiana's Senate primary on Saturday was the latest test of Trump's hold on his party. The president recruited a challenger, Rep. Julia Letlow, and urged supporters to defeat Cassidy over his vote.
"His disloyalty to the man who got him elected is now part of legend," Trump wrote in a Truth Social post about Cassidy. "And it's nice to see his political career is OVER."
Cassidy finished third in a three-way race, according to the Associated Press. Letlow and another candidate, state Treasurer John Fleming, will advance to a June 27 runoff.
In conceding the race, Cassidy hinted that he would not finish his second term quietly. But in an apparent dig at Trump, he also said he wouldn't contest his loss.
"You don't pout, you don't whine, you don't claim that the election was stolen," Cassidy told supporters on Saturday night. "You thank the voters for the privilege of representing the state or the country for as long as you've had that privilege. And that's what I'm doing right now."
Cassidy told voters they should cast their ballot based on the present and the future, not the past, a subtle discouragement from re-litigating the 2020 election six years on. But for many primary voters, Cassidy's move to convict felt like a betrayal, and Trump's endorsement was paramount.
"I'm the type of person, if you cross me, I probably won't trust you anymore," retired sheriff deputy Kevin Dupree said earlier this month. "I think his political career in Louisiana is finished."
Trump's retribution campaign continues
Cassidy is the first Republican senator Trump has helped oust, though he pressed to end the careers of other Republicans who broke with him over January 6 or on other issues, including former Reps. Liz Cheney and Marjorie Taylor Greene; Cheney also lost a reelection bid while Greene chose to resign.
This spring, Trump sought retribution in Indiana, successfully targeting several GOP state senators who rebuffed his push to redistrict the state's congressional map to boost the party's midterms advantage.
Four of seven Republican senators who voted to convict Trump retired rather than run again. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Me., is up for reelection this year, though she is not facing a primary challenge as even Trump's allies acknowledge she is the best chance for Republicans to hold that seat. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, won reelection in 2022, but was buoyed by the state's unique nonpartisan primary system.
In Louisiana, Republican Gov. Jeff Landry moved to close the state's traditionally open primary system, which prevented Democrats from voting in the Republican primary for Cassidy.
The next test of Trump's influence comes Tuesday in Kentucky's primary, where Republican Rep. Thomas Massie, who has found himself at odds with the president, also faces a Trump-endorsed challenger.
What Republican primary voters want
Cassidy's bid for a third term also suggests what primary voters want from their representatives in Washington at this political moment. The primary pitted Cassidy, a former physician and chair of the powerful Senate health committee, against a political newcomer and millennial MAGA loyalist.
"Trump's endorsement is the most important thing to me. He's our president, and he wants to work with Julia Letlow," Republican activist Denice Skinner said at a Letlow campaign event earlier this month.
Cassidy says he brought home billions of dollars for Louisiana during his time in the Senate, including by helping negotiate the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
Letlow says Cassidy turned his back on Louisiana voters who overwhelmingly backed Trump. A former college administrator, Letlow won a 2021 special election to a House seat her husband had been set to assume before he died from COVID waiting for the vaccine.
Cassidy attempted to paint Letlow as a liberal for her past embrace of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, though in Congress she embraced Trump's agenda and opposed DEI, introducing a "Parents Bill of Rights Act," which would give parents more oversight of their childrens' education.
Trump reiterated his endorsement of Letlow on Saturday, but called both Letlow and Fleming good people. The runoff may gauge how much Trump's endorsement matters, versus his opposition.
Will Cassidy become a more vocal Trump critic?
Cassidy voted to convict Trump, but since then, has emphasized his ability to continue working with him and supporting his agenda.
Cassidy attracted criticism for providing the critical vote to advance Robert F. Kennedy's nomination to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, despite Cassidy's background as a physician and deep reservations about Kennedy's vaccine skepticism.
Unrestrained by a reelection bid, Cassidy could follow in the mold of Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., who drew Trump's ire for opposing the One Big Beautiful Bill Act over sweeping cuts to Medicaid. Trump swiftly slammed Tillis and the senator announced he would not run for reelection this year.
Tillis has become one of Trump's most vocal Republican critics in Congress, holding up the president's nomination to lead the Federal Reserve until the administration dropped a probe into the current chair.
"Our country is not about one individual," Cassidy told supporters Saturday night. "It is about the welfare of all Americans and it is about our Constitution. And if someone doesn't understand that and attempts to control others through using the levers of power, they're about serving themselves. They're not about serving us. And that person is not qualified to be a leader."
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