With Trump’s backing, Rep. Julia Letlow launches a primary challenge against Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy
By Arlette Saenz, Sarah Ferris, Eric Bradner, CNN
(CNN) — Republican Rep. Julia Letlow has launched a run for US Senate in Louisiana, taking advantage of President Donald Trump’s endorsement to wage a primary battle against incumbent GOP Sen. Bill Cassidy.
“Today, I am announcing my candidacy for the United States Senate to ensure the nation we leave our children is safer and stronger. Louisiana deserves a conservative Senator who will not waver. I am honored to have President Trump’s endorsement and trust,” Letlow posted on X on Tuesday morning.
Letlow first announced her plans to run earlier in the day while speaking at a breakfast hosted by Business Report in Baton Rouge, a source familiar with the matter said.
Letlow was elected to the House in a March 2021 special election to replace her husband, Luke Letlow, after he died from Covid-19 just weeks after being elected.
Letlow’s decision sets the stage for a hard-fought and potentially expensive primary battle for a safe Senate seat, as Republicans seek to hold onto their narrow congressional majorities in this fall’s midterm elections. Letlow had been waiting for Trump to weigh in on the race and had suggested that she was only willing to run if he specifically backed her, a source familiar with the matter said.
Trump was urged by Senate Majority Leader John Thune to back Cassidy. His push for Letlow is the latest reminder that he does not forgive or forget Republicans who break with him on personal terms — even if they largely support his agenda.
Cassidy said he had spoken with Letlow by phone Tuesday morning about her bid.
“She said she respected me and that I had done a good job. I will continue to do a good job when I win re-election. I am a conservative who wakes up every morning thinking about how to make Louisiana and the United States a better place to live,” he said in a statement.
The senator was one of seven Republican senators who voted to convict Trump in his 2021 impeachment trial following the January 6, 2021, insurrection at the US Capitol. At the time, Cassidy had just won a new six-year term and Trump’s future in politics was unclear after he’d lost his bid for reelection.
The Louisiana senator predicted shortly after the vote, which ultimately fell short, that Trump’s influence within the GOP would recede. “I think his force wanes. The Republican Party is more than just one person,” he told ABC News.
Cassidy, a 68-year-old doctor, chairs the Senate’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. He voted to confirm Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Trump’s Department of Health and Human Services secretary, despite voicing opposition to Kennedy’s skepticism over vaccines. However, Cassidy’s relationship with Kennedy hit a breaking point last year.
Trump’s decision to back a primary challenger against a GOP incumbent creates a new point of tension between Senate Republicans and the White House.
Already in recent weeks, Trump has railed against a handful of senators who broke with Trump and backed advancing a measure to rein in his war powers in Venezuela. Among those targeted by the president was Maine Sen. Susan Collins, whose reelection this year is critical to the GOP’s hopes of retaining its majority.
And another Senate Republican from a competitive state, North Carolina’s Thom Tillis, has opted against seeking reelection amid criticism from Trump.
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