EXCLUSIVE — Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) says he is hopeful that his leadership in Congress against the abortion pill mifepristone will secure his voting base ahead of his contentious primary for reelection.
Cassidy, who was first elected to the Senate in 2014, is facing a tough GOP primary challenge on May 16 against Rep. Julia Letlow and Louisiana Treasurer John Fleming.
In the lead-up to the election, Cassidy told the Washington Examiner in an exclusive interview that he believes his track record on abortion policy will be enough to sway on-the-fence conservatives in his favor.
“People in my state want somebody who’s delivered,” Cassidy said. “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, a doctor by training, has used his chairmanship of the Senate health committee to put pressure on the Food and Drug Administration to reinstitute in-person screening requirements for mifepristone, which anti-abortion advocates say is an essential policy to protect women’s health.
In 2023, the Biden administration FDA removed long-standing rules requiring in-person screening from a physician prior to obtaining the abortion pill, enabling telehealth providers to mail mifepristone directly to patients.
As chairman of the Senate health committee, Cassidy has been at the helm of multiple Senate-wide investigations letters sent to the FDA, including over the agency’s decision to approve a new generic version of mifepristone last fall and whether the agency is taking proper precautions against illicit foreign imports of abortion drugs.
Louisiana is at the center of a lawsuit against the FDA, arguing that telehealth access to abortion nullifies Louisiana law, entirely prohibiting elective abortions following the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
In January, Cassidy also invited Attorney General Liz Murrill to testify about the multiple cases of coerced abortion in Louisiana that are part of the FDA lawsuit, as well as her difficulty in prosecuting a criminal case against a New York physician who prescribed abortion pills to the mother of a pregnant Louisiana minor who used them to coerce her daughter into an abortion.
The state attorney general said the 16-year-old was 20 weeks pregnant when her mother forced her into an abortion, which is well beyond the 10-week gestational age limit set by the FDA for a safe medication abortion.
There have been multiple other reported cases of coerced abortion between romantic partners, including in Texas and Ohio.
Cassidy said he is strongly against any form of coerced abortion and believes that position “appeals to both the person who is pro-life and a person who just wants to stick up for the mom who’s otherwise vulnerable to pressure.”
“There are others who are on either side of the life issue who are going to say, ‘My gosh, a woman should not be coerced into taking an abortion pill,’” Cassidy said.
But Cassidy is one of the few remaining Senators who voted to remove President Donald Trump from office as part of impeachment proceedings in 2021 following the January 6 Capitol riot.
Although the senator has repeatedly said he supports the president’s agenda, on health policy and economic matters, his impeachment vote has proved to be a significant challenge for his third-term reelection campaign.
An Emerson College poll from April 30 found 28% of GOP primary voters supported Fleming, followed by 27% for Letlow and 21% for Cassidy.
The Emerson poll also found that 83% of Louisiana Republicans have a favorable opinion of the president, compared to only 30% of GOP voters in the state having a favorable view of Cassidy.
A different poll conducted around the same time by the Letlow-aligned agency BPDC found Letlow’s support hovering at 33%, followed by both Fleming and Cassidy each commanding approximately 21% of the vote. In a head-to-head runoff, Letlow led Cassidy by 22 percentage points.
Trump endorsed Letlow in March and has subsequently called Cassidy a “very disloyal person” in reference to Cassidy’s role in not confirming the president’s surgeon general nominee, Dr. Casey Means.
Cassidy at the time responded to Trump’s comment on disloyalty by telling reporters that he is “loyal to the United States of America.”
The sitting senator, however, also failed to secure endorsements from fellow Republicans in the state, with both Murrill and Gov. Jeff Landry backing Letlow.
When asked about Landry and Murrill’s decision to endorse Letlow, Cassidy said, “The only endorsement that matters, of course, is the endorsement of voters on voting day.”
But Cassidy said he believes the endorsement of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, the largest national anti-abortion political action group, will help draw support from single-issue voters in Louisiana.
“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,’” the senator said.
SBA officially endorsed Cassidy on Jan. 7, just shy of three weeks before Letlow declared her candidacy.
Caitlin Connors, political director for SBA, told the Washington Examiner that her organization’s endorsement for Cassidy was based on “the unique leadership profile that he has had while in service” rather than as an indictment against Letlow or Fleming.
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“This isn’t an endorsement against anyone. It’s an endorsement for Senator Cassidy and his leadership on the issue,” Connors said.
Early voting started on May 3. The primary runoff date is June 27.