Bill Cassidy Loses Republican Primary After Confirming RFK Jr. as Health Secretary

Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy is in danger of losing his seat in this weekend's Republican primary, with recent polls showing him in third place as voters punish him for confirming Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

as health secretary last year and for his 2021 vote to convict then-President Trump of inciting the January 6 Capitol attack. Cassidy, a physician who built a reputation as the Republican caucus's leading health policy expert, initially balked at supporting Kennedy but ultimately voted yes after extracting what he described as assurances that Kennedy would not undermine vaccine policy.

Cassidy later criticized Kennedy's decision to appoint vaccine skeptics to the CDC's advisory committee on immunization practices and joined other Republican senators in blocking the confirmation of Kennedy ally Casey Means as surgeon general.

In a brief encounter last month in the Senate subway, Cassidy declined to express regret. "I'm a doctor. You make a decision, you move on," he said. "You don't sit around and say, 'Oh my gosh, that was a great decision.

Cassidy's primary challengers have seized on his record to paint him as insufficiently loyal to Trump and the Make America Healthy Again movement. Rep.

He has steered legislation through Congress addressing surprise medical billing, fentanyl trafficking and rural health funding, securing more than $200 million for Louisiana projects in last year's tax bill. Only 10 percent of adults had received the 2025-26 COVID booster as of January.

No parish in the state currently has kindergarten vaccination rates high enough for herd immunity against measles, mumps and rubella, according to a Washington Post analysis. In late 2024 and early 2025 the state suffered its worst whooping cough outbreak in three decades, resulting in two infant deaths.

Cassidy publicly asked Kennedy in September to urge parents to vaccinate their children against whooping cough.

Kennedy did not respond publicly. Kennedy has since overseen a CDC review examining possible links between vaccines and chronic conditions including autism, contradicting what Cassidy said Kennedy promised during the confirmation process.