In February 2021, Bill Cassidy made headlines by voting to convict Donald Trump. It took Louisiana Republicans five years to decide their response, and on Saturday, they delivered their verdict.
Cassidy, who has served Louisiana in the U.S. Senate since 2015, failed to secure a spot among the top two contenders in the Republican primary. Consequently, he will not be moving forward to the June 27 runoff, marking the end of his Senate tenure.
The runoff will feature Trump-backed Representative Julia Letlow and State Treasurer John Fleming, who will vie against each other to become the Republican candidate facing the Democratic nominee in the November election. In Louisiana, the general election is typically a mere formality, with the decisive contest concluding on June 27.
INDICATORS WERE CLEAR:Â Bill Cassidy’s Chances of Advancing Were Slim from the Start
In the wake of the January 6 Capitol riot, Cassidy was among seven Republican Senators who voted to convict Trump, a move that placed him squarely in the political crosshairs. The Louisiana Republican Party formally censured him, and Trump kept a close watch. Throughout the past four years, every poll, opponent, and endorsement in this race was influenced by that pivotal decision.
The Impeachment Vote That Defined a Career’s End
Cassidy was one of seven Senate Republicans to vote to convict Trump following the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot. The vote made him a target. The Republican Party of Louisiana censured him formally. Trump kept score. And for the next four years, every poll, every challenger, and every endorsement in this race was shaped by that single vote.
Trump endorsed Letlow on January 18, 2026. She entered the race two days later. The message was unambiguous: Louisiana is one of the most Trump-aligned states in the country, and the president wanted Cassidy gone. According to reports, Cassidy was the only Republican senator Trump’s team actively targeted for defeat in this cycle. Saturday’s result suggests the effort worked.
What the Runoff Actually Decides
With Cassidy out, the race narrows to a question that cuts to the center of Republican politics heading into the midterms: does Trump’s endorsement close the deal, or does a candidate who earned his position without it have a viable path?
Letlow represents Louisiana’s 5th Congressional District in the northeastern part of the state. She entered the race with the full weight of the Trump-Landry coalition behind her, and she runs into the runoff carrying that endorsement. Fleming, Louisiana’s current State Treasurer and a former congressman who represented the 4th District from 2009 to 2017, built his campaign from the ground up. He was in this race before Letlow was. He was a founding member of the House Freedom Caucus, served in Trump’s first administration, and consolidated rural Louisiana without the president’s formal backing.
The runoff is a live test of those two different varieties of Trump-aligned conservatism — the candidate the president chose, and the candidate who was already there.