After suffering a defeat in last month’s primary, Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) hosted his last Senate Seersucker Day, leaving the beloved bipartisan tradition without a Republican leader.
Senators and staff celebrated the 13th annual bipartisan Seersucker Day on Thursday, just weeks after Cassidy was ousted as President Donald Trump’s hand-picked candidate, Rep. Julia Letlow (R-LA), advanced to the runoff. Cassidy’s departure could lead to increased partisanship on Capitol Hill.
Trump has taken out multiple members who have broken ranks with the president in his revenge tour, leaving many Republicans fearful to cross party lines in an era of decreasing bipartisanship.
But Cassidy made sure to celebrate bipartisanship one last time in his Haspel suit.
“Traditions connect you with the past, and they kind of, if you will, you’re connected to the future,” Cassidy told the Washington Examiner. “It’s a little bit of a celebration. It’s a celebration where people just lighten up, just a little bit. It doesn’t matter what party, what legal persuasion. You come together, wear something which is comfortable on a hot Washington day.”
“Frankly, I think we need more such traditions right now in our society,” he continued.
Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) was named the Democratic co-chair in 2024 alongside Cassidy. Warnock took over for California Sen. Dianne Feinstein after her death.
When asked by the Washington Examiner who would make a good Republican co-chair for next year, Cassidy named Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS).
Senators adopted the seersucker trend after a New Orleans clothier designed a lightweight suit in pale blue and white striped rumpled cotton fabric in the early 1900s. The custom fell off until the late 1990s, when former Republican Mississippi Sen. Trent Lott revitalized the Senate tradition.
According to the Senate historian’s office, Lott selected a “nice and warm” day in the second or third week of June to be designated Seersucker Thursday. Both members and staffers take part in this tradition, meant to bring people together.
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The Mississippi Republican’s goal was to portray that “the Senate isn’t just a bunch of dour folks wearing dark suits and — in the case of men — red or blue ties.”
“Seersucker Day is a day I look forward to every year in the Senate,” one Senate staffer told the Washington Examiner. “For one day a year, we prove that government doesn’t have to look stuffy.”