Louisiana Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy needed his reelection marketing campaign to be in regards to the “present and the future.” President Donald Trump had different plans.
Five years after Cassidy voted to convict Trump in his second impeachment, the senator lost his primary for reelection to a Trump-endorsed challenger – and a second challenger who additionally embraced Trump. Trump-backed Rep. Julia Letlow and Louisiana State Treasurer John Fleming are actually headed to a runoff.
Cassidy turned the primary GOP senator to lose renomination in near a decade, a exceptional downfall that reveals once more how Trump dominates the social gathering.
He signaled in his concession speech, with out mentioning Trump, that he may spend the ultimate months of his time period being extra of a thorn in Trump’s aspect – or at the least extra overtly essential of his social gathering.
“Let me just set the record straight: Our country is not about one individual. It is about the welfare of all Americans and it is about our Constitution,” Cassidy mentioned. “And if someone doesn’t understand that and attempts to control others through using the levers of power, they’re about serving themselves. They’re not about serving us. And that person is not qualified to be a leader.”
Here are our takeaways from primary evening in Louisiana:
Cassidy had sought to paper over his impeachment vote by touting working relationship with Trump, noting Trump signed 4 payments in which he had an enormous function. But Cassidy couldn’t overcome the fact that siding towards Trump on impeachment has change into a long-lasting litmus check for GOP voters – and for the president.
Letlow, Fleming and Trump introduced up the difficulty recurrently, and Trump was particularly aggrieved that Cassidy voted to convict him after Trump backed him in his final reelection bid.
“His disloyalty to the man who got him elected is now a part of legend, and it’s nice to see that his political career is OVER!” Trump wrote Saturday evening on social media.
In backing Letlow towards Cassidy, Trump achieved one thing he has not executed but in his extraordinary political profession: defeat a senator from his personal social gathering in a primary. It got here as he seems to unseat one of many greatest GOP mavericks in Congress — Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie — in a House primary Tuesday.
One of the explanations that Trump has not defeated a Republican senator till now could be as a result of his earlier intraparty critics selected to not search reelection relatively than face his wrath in a primary, with North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis being the most recent example. Cassidy made clear early on that he wouldn’t exit with no combat.
In his concession speech, he mentioned he had no regrets.
“I’ve been able to participate in democracy,” he mentioned, “and when you participate in democracy, sometimes it doesn’t turn out the way you want it to.”
Cassidy’s defeat might be a warning signal to a different Senate Republican who’s beforehand irked Trump and has solid forward with a difficult reelection bid: Sen. John Cornyn in neighboring Texas. But in contrast to in Louisiana, Trump has stayed out of the competition between Cornyn and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, which might be resolved in a May 26 runoff.
With Cassidy out of the image, the runoff between Letlow and Fleming raises new questions on who the president’s supporters in Louisiana favor for the seat.
While Letlow begins the extra time spherical as the favourite, Fleming proved to be resilient in the primary as he pitched himself because the true pro-Trump candidate. He is a former congressman who labored in the White House throughout Trump’s first time period.
Notably, Trump referred to each challengers as “two great people” in a social media submit because the voting in the primary started Saturday morning.
In her primary evening speech, Letlow instructed she wouldn’t take the runoff as a right, promising to journey all through the state once more. Trump spoke of the runoff a bit extra flippantly – whereas making clear he remained firmly behind Letlow.
“Julia Letlow is a fantastic person and, after taking care of some additional business, will make a brilliant Senator for the Great People of Louisiana,” he wrote on social media.
Tillis has been extra outspoken in regards to the Trump administration since deciding towards looking for reelection. Tillis lately held up Trump’s nomination of Kevin Warsh to chair the Federal Reserve to strain the Justice Department to drop its investigation into then-Chair Jay Powell.
Cassidy mentioned Saturday evening that the nation is “not about one individual” and went on to distinction himself with unnamed “leaders” who’re extra involved about themselves than the folks they serve. And he introduced up his expertise of “being attacked on the internet,” talking minutes earlier than Trump launched his newest broadside towards him accusing him of disloyalty.
“Insults only bother me if they come from somebody of character and integrity,” Cassidy mentioned. “I find that people of character and integrity don’t spend their time attacking people on the internet.”
Earlier in his speech, Cassidy made one other obvious reference to Trump — and his denial that he lost the 2020 election — whereas extolling the virtues of democracy.
“You don’t pout, you don’t whine, you don’t claim that the election was stolen … you don’t manufacture some excuse,” Cassidy mentioned. “You thank the voters for the privilege of representing the state or the country for as long as you’ve had that privilege. And that’s what I’m doing right now.”