by WorldTribune Staff / 247 Real News May 16, 2026
Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy, who voted to convict President Donald Trump at the 2021 impeachment trial, was sent packing by voters in Saturday’s Republican primary.
Trump-backed Rep. Julia Letlow and Louisiana Treasurer John Fleming took the top two positions and will move on to a June 27 runoff for the Republican nomination.
Cassidy, who finished in third place, is the first elected Republican senator to lose renomination since Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana in 2012.
“While he wasn’t on the ballot, Trump is a winner, as the primary in the solidly red state was the latest test of his endorsements in GOP nomination and of the president’s immense grip over the Republican Party,” Paul Steinhauser wrote for Fox News Digital.
Trump slammed Cassidy as a “very disloyal person” and on Friday took to social media to praise Letlow as a “Highly Respected America First Congresswoman.”
“Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana is a disloyal disaster. His entire past campaign for the Senate was about ‘TRUMP,’ how he’s with me all the way, and then, after winning, he turned around and voted to IMPEACH me for something that has now proven to be total “bulls—!” Trump posted on Truth Social.
Cassidy “knew at the time, but didn’t care,” Trump wrote, also calling him a “sleazebag” and a “terrible guy” who is “BAD FOR LOUISIANA,” predicting he was “going to get CLOBBERED.”
Cassidy and an allied super PAC poured more than $20 million on ads into the primary race, according to national ad tracking firm AdImpact. That total was more than Letlow and Fleming spent combined.
Letlow told Fox News Digital that Trump not only encouraged her to enter the race “but also to have his complete and total endorsement” which she said “has been, wow, the honor of a lifetime.”
“It’s the most powerful endorsement in the world,” Letlow said, adding that Louisiana Republicans “are huge fans of the president.”
Letlow also had the report of Louisiana Republican Gov. Jeff Landry, a top Trump ally.
Fleming, who served as a White House deputy chief of staff during Trump’s first term, said he was the most conservative candidate in the GOP Senate primary.
“They see me clearly MAGA,” Fleming told Fox News Digital. “I served in his entire first administration at various capacities. I was one of the first congressmen that endorsed him in 2016.”
The winner of the Republican runoff will be considered the clear favorite in the general election to keep the Senate seat in Republican hands.
The Louisiana GOP primary was held a week and a half after Indiana’s primary, where Trump-backed challengers ousted five sitting Republican state senators who last December teamed up with Democrats to defeat the president’s push for congressional redistricting in the state.
2026 Contract With Our Readers
Sen. Cassidy, who voted to impeach Trump, sent packing in Louisiana GOP primary added by Editor Two on
View all posts by Editor Two →