Sen. Bill Cassidy Faces Primary Challenge Without Trump Endorsement

Sen. Bill Cassidy, a Louisiana Republican seeking a third term, enters Saturday's primary without the endorsement of President Trump or favorable positioning in available polls. President Trump endorsed one of Mr. Cassidy’s Republican challengers during the first year the state is conducting closed-party primaries.

The Washington Times reported that Mr. Cassidy is the only Republican senator running for reelection this cycle whom Mr. Trump has explicitly endorsed against. Mr. Cassidy's 2021 vote to convict Mr. Trump on impeachment charges of the incitement of insurrection contributed to the lack of support. J.

Miles Coleman, associate editor of Sabato’s Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia Center for Politics, said it is a question of whether Mr. Cassidy loses this weekend or in the eventual runoff. Coleman, a New Orleans native, told The Washington Times that Mr.

Cassidy “more or less signed off the end of his political career” with that 2021 vote.

The pro-Trump state legislature changed the state’s primary system from open to closed. Robert A. Collins, a professor at Dillard University in New Orleans, said the closed primary system was specifically designed to get rid of Bill Cassidy because he could no longer rely on crossover Democratic voters.

Collins added that most people agree the state plans to return to an open primary system after this election cycle because the closed primary is very unpopular with the people of Louisiana. “The only reason we have a race is because Donald Trump has a personal vendetta against Cassidy now and he wants to take him out,” Collins said.