Letlow and Fleming Advance to Runoff, Cassidy Defeated in Louisiana GOP Senate Primary

Rep. Julia Letlow and Louisiana State Treasurer John Fleming have advanced to a runoff in the Republican Senate primary, unseating incumbent Sen. Bill Cassidy, CBS News projects. Letlow led the field with 44.9% of the vote, Fleming followed with 28.4%, and Cassidy trailed at 24.6%. The runoff is scheduled for June 27.

Cassidy, a two-term senator and medical doctor, was one of seven Senate Republicans who voted to convict former President Donald Trump during his 2021 impeachment trial. His vote and subsequent refusal to endorse Trump in the 2024 presidential race contributed to the president’s opposition. Trump endorsed Letlow in January, before she had announced her candidacy, and has since praised her campaign, calling it “fantastic” and congratulating her on defeating an incumbent senator by “record setting numbers.”

In a series of posts on Truth Social, Trump accused Cassidy of falsely leveraging his relationship with the former president and criticized his impeachment vote as “preposterous charges that were fake then, and now, are criminally insane.” Trump also expressed confidence that Letlow would be a “brilliant Senator” for Louisiana.

Letlow, 45, who represents Louisiana’s 5th Congressional District, became the first Republican woman elected to Congress from the state in 2021 after winning a special election following the death of her husband, former Rep.-elect Luke Letlow, who died from COVID-19 complications before taking office. She has criticized Cassidy for disloyalty to the GOP and questioned how he would vote under pressure.

Fleming, a former congressman and White House deputy chief of staff during Trump’s first term, positioned himself as “the only conservative MAGA Republican” in the race. He reportedly sought Trump’s endorsement but was blocked by the president’s aides. Fleming later spoke with Trump after the endorsement of Letlow was announced.

Cassidy, who chairs the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, has clashed with Trump’s Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., particularly over vaccine policies. Cassidy supported Kennedy’s nomination after assurances that CDC vaccine recommendations would remain unchanged, but criticized Kennedy after he replaced the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and altered vaccine-related information on the CDC website. Cassidy also opposed changes to the childhood vaccine schedule and other health policy shifts under Kennedy’s leadership.

In his concession speech, Cassidy emphasized respect for the democratic process, stating, “When you participate in democracy, sometimes it doesn’t turn out the way you want it to. But you don’t pout, you don’t whine, you don’t claim the election was stolen, you don’t find a reason, you don’t manufacture some excuse. You thank the voters for the privilege of representing the state or the country for as long as you’ve had that privilege, and that’s what I’m doing right now.”

The National Republican Senatorial Committee, led by Senate Majority Leader John Thune, had supported Cassidy’s bid for a third term. Thune called Cassidy “a terrific senator for Louisiana” and noted that voters would ultimately decide the outcome.

Former GOP Senator Mitt Romney of Utah lamented Cassidy’s defeat, calling him “an exceptionally brilliant and creative mind, an MD who chairs healthcare, and a person of character,” and described his departure as “a loss for the country.”

On the Democratic side, third-generation farmer Jamie Davis secured the party’s nomination, defeating former policy advisor Nick Albares and Navy veteran Gary Crockett. However, Louisiana is a solidly Republican state, where Trump won 60% of the vote in 2024, and the GOP primary winner is widely expected to prevail in the November general election.

Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry suspended the state’s House primaries following a Supreme Court ruling on the congressional map, but Senate primaries, including this one, proceeded as scheduled.