GOP senator who voted to convict Trump over J6 draws primary challenger

A prominent Republican senator who voted to convict President-elect Donald Trump following the Senate’s January 6th impeachment trial will face a competitive primary challenger.

Louisiana state Treasurer John Fleming, who served in multiple positions during the first Trump administration, announced in a press release Wednesday that he will primary Republican Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy who is up for reelection in 2026.

In other news,
Louisiana Senator @BillCassidy who voted to impeach President Trump

Has a primary challenger for his Senate seat…

Dr John Fleming, former Congressman and current LA Treasurer, is running for Senate. @LATreasury #lasen pic.twitter.com/tnwkO3zAh2

— Amy Kremer (@AmyKremer) December 4, 2024

“A number of Republicans walked away from President Trump in the last year of his first term,” Fleming, who also served four terms in the House during which he co-founded the Freedom Caucus, said in a press release. “Senator Cassidy has failed the people of Louisiana.”

“The opportunity to stand with him [Trump] for the principles of America First is why I seek to serve the citizens of Louisiana in the United States Senate,” Fleming added.

Cassidy, the incoming chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, was one of seven GOP senators who voted to convict Trump following his second impeachment trial in January 2021. The Louisiana Republican also declined to endorse Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign.

Cassidy has yet to launch an official reelection bid for a third term, but told USA Today in November that “I’m obviously working hard toward 2026.” He has more than $5.8 million to ward off potential challengers, according to Federal Election Commission data.

A Cassidy spokesperson emphasized the Louisiana senator’s legislative accomplishments in a statement to the Daily Caller News Foundation.

“This week, Senator Cassidy met with President Trump’s VA [Veterans Affairs] nominee, secured tax relief for the victims of natural disasters in Louisiana and elsewhere, passed bills to reduce maternal mortality and to make it easier to donate to Veterans organizations, pushed Chuck Schumer to hold a vote to repeal WEP [Windfall Elimination Penalty] and GPO [Government Pension Offset], and continues to work on important legislation,” a Cassidy spokesperson told the DCNF. “The time will come to focus on the campaign, and when that happens, he will see who is still in the race.”

Trump criticized Cassidy on Truth Social earlier this year in a statement that called his loyalty to the president-elect into question.

“One of the worst Senators in the United States Senate is, without question, Bill Cassidy, A TOTAL FLAKE, Republican though he may be,” Trump wrote in April. “He campaigned in the Great State of Louisiana on TRUMP, TRUMP, TRUMP, and was absolutely thrilled when he was able to get my very important Endorsement. His advertisements were all about ‘TRUMP,’ and our relationship, which basically didn’t exist in that I did not know him well. In any event, he easily won Re-Election. Cassidy is a total ‘stiff,’ but Louisiana didn’t need him to protect them, because they had ME, 100%!”

“Nevertheless, when the Democrats’ Impeachment Hoax started, this Lamebrain Senator actually voted against me. He thought it was so ‘cool,’ until he got home, and was literally pelted with everything that could be used for such an inglorious happening, especially words, with lots of foul language thrown in,” Trump added.

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