A Trump-backed Republican challenger has dealt a major blow to one of the last remaining GOP senators who voted to convict President Donald Trump during his second impeachment trial following the January 6 Capitol riot.
Congresswoman Julia Letlow surged ahead in Louisiana’s closely watched Republican Senate primary on Saturday, forcing incumbent Senator Bill Cassidy out of contention and into political uncertainty after years of tension with Trump loyalists.
Cassidy, 68, had become a target of the MAGA movement after he joined six other Republican senators in voting to convict Trump during the 2021 impeachment proceedings tied to the Capitol attack. Although Trump was ultimately acquitted after the Senate fell short of the required two-thirds majority, the vote sparked fury among his supporters and transformed Cassidy into one of the president’s most outspoken Republican critics.
President Donald Trump repeatedly attacked Cassidy during the campaign, branding him a “disloyal disaster” and publicly encouraging Letlow to enter the race earlier this year.
With no candidate securing more than 50 percent of the vote, Letlow and fellow Trump-aligned Republican John Fleming will now face off in a runoff election scheduled for late June. The eventual Republican nominee will advance to challenge the Democratic candidate in November’s general election.
According to US media projections, Letlow secured approximately 45 percent of the vote, while Fleming narrowly edged Cassidy for second place with around 28 percent compared to the senator’s 25 percent.
Speaking after the results emerged late Saturday night, Letlow praised Trump and credited his support for energising conservative voters across Louisiana.
“I want to say thank you to a very special man — the best president this country has ever had, President Donald Trump,” she told cheering supporters.
The result marks a dramatic political downfall for Cassidy, who had spent months attempting to mend his strained relationship with Trump ahead of the primary battle.
Just days before the election, Cassidy acknowledged the tension between himself and the president but insisted they had still worked effectively together in government.
“I don’t really think President Trump likes me that much, but we work really well together,” Cassidy told reporters, citing legislation he sponsored that Trump later signed into law.
Despite those efforts, Trump remained openly hostile toward the Louisiana senator and celebrated Cassidy’s defeat in a series of posts on Truth Social shortly after the results were announced.
“It’s nice to see that his political career is OVER!” Trump wrote.
In another post, the president added: “That’s what you get by voting to impeach an innocent man.”
During his concession-style speech in Baton Rouge, Cassidy appeared to indirectly criticise Trump and his repeated claims that the 2020 presidential election had been stolen.
“When you participate in democracy, sometimes it doesn’t turn out the way you want it to,” Cassidy told supporters. “But you don’t pout. You don’t whine. You don’t claim that an election was stolen from you.”
He went on to warn against political loyalty centred on one individual rather than public service.
“American leaders should be focused on serving the wellbeing of the public,” Cassidy said.
“And if someone doesn’t understand that and attempts to control others through using the levers of power, they’re about serving themselves. They’re not about serving us. And that person is not qualified to be a leader.”
Cassidy’s loss now leaves only two Republican senators who voted to convict Trump still serving in the Senate: Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins.
Meanwhile, Fleming hailed the outcome as proof that grassroots conservatives could still overcome establishment-backed campaigns despite heavy spending by outside political groups.
“Yesterday, the people of Louisiana proved that a grassroots conservative can still compete — and win — even when the political establishment and outside dark money groups spend millions trying to destroy him,” Fleming said in a statement on Sunday.
The Louisiana runoff is now expected to become another major battleground in Trump’s ongoing effort to reshape the Republican Party around loyalty to his political movement.
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