Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) wields immense power as a committee chairman and voted in line with President Donald Trump 100% of the time last year.
It still may not be enough to save his political career.
The second-term senator’s vote in 2021 to convict Trump of impeachment over the U.S. Capitol riot and his recent tensions with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Make America Healthy Again movement loom large over his future in the Senate as primary voters head to the polls Saturday to settle on a nominee in a three-way field.
But if Republican voters are looking for guidance from national party leaders on whether to side with Cassidy, Trump-backed Rep. Julia Letlow (R-LA), or state Treasurer John Fleming, they’re in for mixed messages.
“Hopefully all of the Great Republican People of Louisiana, which I won, BIG, three times, will be voting Bill Cassidy OUT OF OFFICE in the upcoming Republican Primary!” Trump wrote April 30 on Truth Social, some of his most recent remarks on the race.
In a rare break with Trump, Senate GOP leaders and their campaign arm, the National Republican Senatorial Committee, are firmly behind their incumbent colleague.
“Bill Cassidy has been a terrific senator for Louisiana,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) told the Washington Examiner. “Obviously, [NRSC Chairman] Tim Scott and I — the NRSC — our job is to do what we can to support incumbents. But obviously, the voters of Louisiana are going to make that decision.”
While the primary is Saturday, that decision may not be known until more than a month later. It’s likely that none of the trio will garner more than 50% of the vote needed to avert a June 27 runoff. If they fall short, the top two vote-getters head to the runoff.
Cassidy, a doctor by trade and chairman of the Senate health committee, believes his track record on abortion policy will weigh heavily in his favor with undecided conservatives or single-issue voters.
“People in my state want somebody who’s delivered,” Cassidy told the Washington Examiner in a recent interview. “When it comes to the pro-life issue, I’ve been far more active than my opponents — active not just with lip service but actually doing something to make a difference.”
Cassidy has used his influence atop the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee in ways that have both irked and delighted conservatives.
To the chagrin of the MAHA movement, he’s butted heads with vaccine policies from Kennedy and stymied the confirmation of former surgeon general nominee Casey Means. But he’s also mounted several investigations into the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of a new generic version of mifepristone and its handling of illicit foreign imports of abortion drugs.
In a post-Roe v. Wade world, the state of Louisiana is arguing in an ongoing lawsuit against the FDA that mail-order access abortion pills violate state law and the Comstock Act, which prohibits the mailing of such materials. Cassidy is backed by the political arm of the Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America group, the country’s largest anti-abortion organization.
“We are a very pro-life state, and there are single-issue voters in our state who are going to look at my endorsement by SBA and say, ‘This is why I’m going to vote for Bill Cassidy,’” he said.
Cassidy and his campaign say Gov. Jeff Landry (R-LA), who endorsed Letlow, sowed confusion into the weekend election — perhaps intentionally — by postponing only the state’s House primary elections after a Supreme Court ruling.
Polls vary widely over who may emerge in the top two. But Cassidy has led just two surveys this year that his campaign did not sponsor. Over the past month, Letlow or Fleming has led the pack.
The Cassidy campaign believes the two-term senator will advance to a runoff against Letlow. It contends she presents an easier head-to-head matchup than Fleming because of her past policy record, which Cassidy aides say lends vulnerabilities.
“Mission one,” Cassidy campaign adviser Mark Harris said, is to “finish in the top two” on Saturday to advance to a runoff. “It’s sort of Julia’s to lose in this first round.”
Cassidy and Letlow sacrificed votes in Washington to campaign back home in the days leading up to the primary.
CASSIDY SUGGESTS GOVERNOR BOOSTED TRUMP-BACKED RIVAL BY NOT MOVING SENATE PRIMARY
Letlow missed all 16 votes in the House this week, during at least some of which she was campaigning in Louisiana. Letlow’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
Cassidy was in Washington for most of the week. He missed one of 11 recorded votes in the Senate, which came on Thursday when he was campaigning back in the Pelican State with the Susan B. Anthony group.
Gabrielle M. Etzel and Hailey Bullis contributed to this report.