Washington — Voters in Louisiana are heading to the polls Saturday for the state’s Republican Senate runoff, where two GOP contenders are competing for the chance to succeed Sen. Bill Cassidy after the incumbent failed to make it out of the primary.
Rep. Julia Letlow and Louisiana state Treasurer John Fleming advanced to the runoff after no candidate reached the 50% threshold in last month’s primary. Letlow led the field with more than 44% of the vote, while Fleming finished second with 28%. Cassidy, the sitting Republican senator, placed third.
President Trump had urged Letlow earlier this year to challenge Cassidy, who had at times found himself at odds with the administration. The most prominent rift came after Cassidy voted to convict Mr. Trump in the 2021 impeachment trial following the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. Cassidy, a physician, had also clashed with the administration over Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s leadership, even after casting the crucial vote that helped advance Kennedy’s nomination last year.
Cassidy’s defeat became an early measure of the strength of the president’s endorsement power, a dynamic that was tested again weeks later when Sen. John Cornyn lost his primary in Texas. Since his own primary loss, Cassidy has appeared more willing to distance himself from the White House and recently sparred with the president during a Senate Republican lunch meeting.
Before the primary, Mr. Trump sharply criticized Cassidy, calling him a “disloyal disaster,” while endorsing Letlow as a “winner who will NEVER let you down.”
Letlow, 45, has served in the U.S. House since 2021, when she became the first Republican woman from Louisiana elected to Congress. Fleming, who served in the first Trump administration, previously represented Louisiana in the House from 2009 to 2017.
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Whoever wins Saturday’s runoff is expected to enter the general election with a strong advantage. Louisiana remains a reliably Republican state, where Mr. Trump won 60% of the vote in 2024, and voters have not elected a Democrat to the Senate since 2008.
