Cassidy pans Landry for moving forward with Louisiana Senate primary after voting rights decision
Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) said Thursday that Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry (R) deciding to move forward with the state’s Senate primary election next month was “disappointing.”
Landry signed an executive order earlier Thursday suspending the House primary elections in Louisiana, a day after the Supreme Court ruled that the state’s congressional map was unconstitutional.
All other primaries, including a challenge to Cassidy from Rep. Julia Letlow (R) and state Treasurer John Fleming, will go on as planned — with early voting starting Saturday and the final day to cast a ballot set for May 16.
“Louisiana voters have an important choice to make about who will represent them in the U.S. Senate for the next six years,” Cassidy wrote on the social platform X . “The governor’s decision to move ahead with the Senate race during a confusing time is disappointing.”
“Now, it’s up to all of us to help people understand what’s happening and make sure voters know how to cast their votes over the next two weeks,” he continued.
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court in Louisiana v. Callais upheld a prior federal court’s decision that barred Louisiana from using a map that the state Legislature drew in 2024. That map included a second majority-Black district, now represented by Democratic Rep. Cleo Fields.
Landry and Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill (R) said in a statement Thursday that the court’s decision bars the state “from carrying out congressional elections under the current election.”
In his executive order , the governor suspended only the House primary elections — the May 16 primary and June 27 runoff — until July 15 or until the state Legislature redraws the state’s congressional maps.
Democratic Rep. Troy Carter (La.) also expressed concern with the move.
“Louisiana’s primaries are already underway — mail-in ballots have been sent, and early voting begins in just two days,” he wrote on social media . “We must account for that reality and ensure voters aren’t left in confusion or denied fair representation at a critical moment. Our soldiers at war, the elderly, and anyone who requires accommodations to vote will face irreparable harm if we change course midstream.”
Letlow, with the early support of President Trump, launched her campaign against Cassidy in January. On Thursday, the president slammed the incumbent senator, a medical doctor who has criticized the Department of Health and Human Services under Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — despite voting to confirm Kennedy last year.
Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform that Cassidy, who voted to impeach him after the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attacks, is “very disloyal” and “has stood in the way” of his former nominee for surgeon general, Casey Means.
Later in the afternoon, the president pulled Means’s nomination in favor of Fox News contributor and radiologist Dr. Nicole Saphier.
A poll conducted by Emerson College last Friday through Sunday found that 28 percent of 500 likely GOP primary voters backed Fleming, while 27 percent supported Letlow, 21 percent supported Cassidy and 22 percent were undecided.
If no candidate receives a simple majority in the initial primary, the top two finishers advance to the June 27 runoff.
In response to Trump calling him “disloyal,” Cassidy said Thursday that he is “loyal to the United States of America” and expressed confidence that he will win the primary.
“I don’t think so,” the Louisiana Republican said on Capitol Hill, when CNN’s Manu Raju asked whether the president will knock him out of his seat.
“The people in Louisiana are going to vote for someone who’s delivered for Louisiana, and I can look at the things that I have delivered for the state of Louisiana … and it is far more than any of my opponents,” he added from a car.
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