Cassidy’s do-or-die Louisiana primary battle: What to know

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) is facing the biggest challenge of his political career on Saturday as voters take to the polls for a highly competitive GOP Senate primary.

Cassidy is seeking a third term in the U.S. Senate but his path to the Republican nomination runs through a pair of tough challengers who are hoping to convince voters that the incumbent is not conservative enough to represent a state that voted overwhelmingly for President Trump in 2024.

The Louisiana Republican was one of seven GOP senators who voted to convict Trump in his second impeachment trial following the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol — a decision that made him a prime target for MAGA anger.

Cassidy wrote in a newspaper column at the time that he did so because he believed Trump was “guilty” of inciting rioters and “clearly intended to prevent a peaceful transfer of power.”

The former practicing physician has also taken heat from the president’s core base over his public clashes with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on vaccine policy, despite him casting the deciding vote to advance Kennedy’s nomination.

Cassidy’s breaks with the Republican Party have drawn the ire of Trump, who slammed the senator ahead of Saturday’s election as a “disloyal disaster.”

“Bill Cassidy is a sleazebag, a terrible guy, who is BAD FOR LOUISIANA,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. “Now........

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