Louisiana Senate Race Turns Turbulent as Cassidy Faces Trump Backing Collision

By Theodore Bunker | Monday, 02 February 2026 02:39 PM EST

Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., is seeking a third term under Louisiana’s new election system as intraparty divisions intensify and his public challenge of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on vaccine safety resurfaces as a political liability.

Cassidy, chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, pressed Kennedy during his Senate confirmation hearings about vaccine safety, reflecting deep concern that Kennedy’s influence could shift public health policy. Cassidy, a physician, also publicly stated Kennedy’s views on vaccines were wrong.

“I’ve learned you got a tremendous following. My phone blows up with people who really follow you and there are many who trust you more than they trust their own physician,” Cassidy told Kennedy at the time. “So the question I need to have answered is, What will you do with that trust?”

Cassidy ultimately voted to confirm Kennedy, who was approved by the Senate on Feb. 13, 2025.

But with Louisiana beginning closed-party primaries for U.S. Senate races in May, Cassidy is facing a field of Republican rivals eager to consolidate voters aligned with the MAGA base and Kennedy’s Make America Healthy Again movement.

“Cassidy, within the MAHA movement, is pretty well-despised,” Jeff Hutt, a spokesman for the Make America Healthy Again MAHA super PAC and a former staffer for Kennedy’s 2024 presidential campaign, told a reporter.

Under the state’s new primary rules, Republicans will hold a party primary May 16, with a runoff June 27 if no candidate wins a majority.

Rep. Julia Letlow, R-La., announced her Senate candidacy last week with President Donald Trump’s endorsement, putting Cassidy on a collision course with the president he voted to convict in Trump’s 2021 impeachment trial after the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Trump’s endorsement message was blunt and exuberant: “Highly Respected America First Congresswoman, Julia Letlow, of the wonderful State of Louisiana, is a Great Star, has been from the very beginning, and only gets better!
‘Julia Letlow has my Complete and Total Endorsement. RUN, JULIA, RUN!!!’

Letlow leaned into that backing as she launched her campaign. “It’s an honor to share with you, after the endorsement and encouragement from the president, the president of the United States, Trump, that today I will officially be announcing my candidacy for the U.S. Senate,” she said at a breakfast event in Baton Rouge, according to audio obtained by The Associated Press.

Cassidy has tried to demonstrate loyalty to Trump in recent months, even highlighting his Oval Office access on social media. “Great to be with @POTUS in the Oval Office today!” Cassidy wrote in one post. “This is what a great working relationship looks like.”

Trump’s decision to back a challenger underscores how the 2026 midterm cycle is becoming a test of party discipline, particularly for Republicans who broke with Trump after the Capitol riot.

For Cassidy, it also intensifies scrutiny of his role in shepherding Kennedy’s nomination—a relationship that began with sharp questioning and ended with Cassidy providing a pivotal vote to advance Kennedy’s confirmation.

Other Republicans, including state Sen. Blake Miguez and state Treasurer John Fleming, have also moved to court the same conservative voters Cassidy needs to survive a primary that could turn into a multiway fight and a runoff.