Trump loyalist hung out to dry in ruby-red state

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) is having a rough reelection despite his loyalty to President Donald Trump.

The senator, who is also a doctor, has been relentlessly attacked for approving Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services despite his anti-science beliefs. But Trump is still angry over a vote Cassidy made during Trump's 2020 impeachment. At the time, Cassidy said that the Constitution was more important than party loyalty. Now, Trump is enacting his revenge.

Writing for Semafor on Friday, Burgess Everett described Cassidy's new GOP primary as the "most awkward" for Republicans this year.

Despite Cassidy carrying Trump's water through confirmations, Trump is supporting Rep. Julia Letlow, a far-right Republican. It puts other Republicans in a difficult spot as they are afraid of Trump, but also have a rule about supporting incumbents.

The same thing happened in 2022 with Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), but Everett noted that there are many differences between her and Cassidy. Namely, Murkowski trends more independently and has crossover appeal, while Cassidy is far-right. Also, Trump wasn't the president at the time of the race, nor did he campaign for challenger Kelly Tshibaka. The report also noted that Cassidy's opponent is taking the race far more seriously than Tshibaka.

One problem is that the GOP is more likely to lose the House in the 2026 midterms, but the Senate could remain close. In what is likely to be a "wave year," that could mean the split in the GOP between Cassidy and Letlow ends with Cassidy supporters holding back on their support.

"And Republicans are trying to save the Senate majority and Louisiana is a deep-red state that Democrats aren’t even contesting. That’s turned GOP groups’ focus elsewhere, even as Cassidy is nearly universally respected in the Senate Republican Conference as a sober, serious legislator with deep policy knowledge," said Everett.

NRSC chairman, Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) said that he can certainly understand Trump's grudge and he can "understand" it.

“Bill’s a good guy. I like him. How the race shakes out is up to the voters of Louisiana. Obviously, the president has a reason to feel the way he does," said Moreno.

“It’s always awkward, but ultimately he’s gotta make his case. [Letlow is] gonna make the case, and we’ll see how it shakes out," he added.

There's also a third in the race, former Rep. John Fleming. It means that the candidates won't likely be able to get 50 percent. So, the May 16 primary election will likely go into a runoff.

While colleagues have been supportive with money, no one is willing to speak up personally.

“I’m gonna leave that between Senator Cassidy and President Trump — well, actually, between Senator Cassidy and the voters in Louisiana. They’re going to have the final say. I’m focused on my race, as you might imagine,” said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), who has his own primary against far-right challenger Ken Paxton.

NRSC chairman Rick Scott (R-Fla.) would normally be one of those fighting to keep incumbents in office. He did it with Murkowski when she was up in 2022. This time around, however, he's staying out of it. He told Semafor he “generally” doesn’t get involved in primaries.

Cassidy said he feels like he's in a good place and is grateful for the support he's received.

“Sen. Cassidy is one of the most capable US senators that I’ve had the pleasure of serving with. It is a shame that we can’t get the administration and other people to see that,” Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) told Semafor. He's had his own run-ins with Trump in the past year and is retiring after the election. His seat is seen as a likely pickup for Democrats.

While there are a lot of people helping Cassidy, Tillis said, "you can never do enough in these races. To me, you’ve always got to protect your incumbents.”

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