“Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana is a disloyal disaster,” said President Donald Trump in a Saturday Truth Social post about the Republican lawmaker from Louisiana.
Cassidy, a medical doctor and founder of the Greater Baton Rouge Community Clinic, is on the ballot for the Saturday Republican primary. He was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 2014 when he defeated incumbent Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.). With that election, Cassidy became the first Republican to hold the seat since 1883, according to Ballotpedia.
He made headlines last year for his criticism of Trump’s Head of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Kennedy, an environmental lawyer, is a vaccine skeptic and Cassidy has stressed the importance of vaccinations.
“Does a 70-year-old man who spent decades criticizing vaccines and financially finding fault with vaccines – can he change his attitudes and approach now that he’ll have the most important position influencing vaccine policy in the United States?” Cassidy asked during Kennedy’s confirmation hearing process.
He also recently questioned Kennedy about measles outbreaks in the U.S. The Hill even noted that Cassidy “fact-checked” the HHS secretary “multiple times” about vaccines.
In addition to sparring with Kennedy over vaccines, Cassidy also voted in favor of impeaching Trump over election denialism following the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the capitol. He said an exclusive interview with POLITICO Saturday that he has no regrets about that move.
“His entire past campaign for the Senate was about ‘TRUMP,’ how he’s with me all the way, and then, after winning, he turned around and voted to IMPEACH me for something that has now proven to be total bulls**t,” said the president in his Saturday Truth Social post. “He knew that at the time, but didn’t care. Bill Cassidy is a sleazebag, a terrible guy, who is BAD FOR LOUISIANA.”
Cassidy shared his own concerns about election integrity in Louisiana with POLITICO ahead of the GOP primary. Still, he seemed confident that he would be successful.
“I’m going to win today,” Cassidy said, according to the outlet. “I may go into a runoff. But I’m always going to vote for the good of my country and my people.”
Cassidy is running against Louisiana State Treasurer John Fleming, Rep. Julia Letlow (R-La.) and Mark Spencer in the primary. Trump endorsed Letlow, and educator who April 2021 after receiving 65% of the vote in a special election to win the seat previously won by her husband Luke, according to her congressional biography. Luke Letlow passed way from COVID-19 days before taking office.
“Now he’s going to get CLOBBERED, hopefully, in today’s BIG election, by two great people!!! VOTE TODAY FOR JULIA L,” said Trump. “She Is a winner who will NEVER let you down. I LOVE LOUISIANA, won it all three times, and got the most votes in its history, by far (A record!!!), despite its big time and ‘storied,’ political past.”
Trump’s comments about Cassidy come as his own approval ratings have slipped, reportedly causing concern for GOP lawmakers as we get closer to the midterm elections in November. Audacy covered reports this week that some Republicans are even avoiding leaning into Trump’s MAGA messaging.
