Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., faces a looming primary challenge on Saturday as Louisiana’s newly energized “Make America Healthy Again” movement targets the physician-turned-lawmaker over his support for vaccines and clashes with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Cassidy, a two-term incumbent seeking re-election in Louisiana’s first closed-party Senate primary in decades, is battling Rep. Julia Letlow, R-La., who has President Donald Trump’s endorsement, and state Treasurer John Fleming in a race that has become a national test of the MAHA movement’s political influence ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
The Louisiana contest has also drawn outsized national attention because Cassidy was one of seven Republican senators who voted to convict Trump after the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol breach, a vote that led the Louisiana Republican Party to censure him and made him a long-term target among Trump loyalists.
Trump intensified the intraparty battle in January when he endorsed Letlow before she formally entered the race, calling on the congresswoman to challenge Cassidy.
The tensions escalated further this month after Trump withdrew wellness influencer Casey Means as his nominee for surgeon general and publicly blamed Cassidy for helping block the nomination.
“I nominated Casey, a strong MAHA Warrior, at the recommendation of Secretary Kennedy, who understands the MAHA Movement better than anyone, with perhaps the possible exception of ME!” Trump wrote on social media. “Nevertheless, despite Senator Cassidy’s intransigence and political games, Casey will continue to fight for MAHA on the many important Health issues facing our Country.”
