Bill Cassidy Fights Trump-Backed Challenge in High-Stakes Louisiana GOP Primary
Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy is facing one of the toughest reelection fights of the 2026 midterms as Louisiana voters head into a closely watched GOP primary shaped heavily by President Donald Trump’s influence inside the Republican Party.
Cassidy, who voted to convict Trump during the former president’s second impeachment trial in 2021, is trailing or locked in a competitive race against Trump-backed Rep. Julia Letlow and former Rep. John Fleming, according to recent polling.
The race has become a national test of Trump’s ability to punish Republican officials viewed as disloyal. Trump has repeatedly attacked Cassidy publicly and endorsed Letlow earlier this year.
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Louisiana’s new partisan primary system may also reshape the outcome. The state moved away from its longtime “jungle primary” format, creating a more ideologically concentrated Republican electorate that analysts say could disadvantage Cassidy’s more moderate coalition.
The contest is now being watched nationally as an early signal for the broader Republican Senate landscape ahead of the 2026 midterms.
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