Two Republican challengers, Rep. Julia Letlow and state Treasurer John Fleming, will advance to a runoff election in Louisiana’s intently watched GOP major, the Related Press projected Saturday — a defeat for Sen. Invoice Cassidy who had drawn the ire of President Donald Trump.
Letlow had been endorsed by Trump in a three-way race that was seen as a check of the president’s affect amongst Republicans.
Letlow and Fleming will face off once more within the runoff on June 27.
Sen. Invoice Cassidy speaks to media on the primary day of early voting on Might 2, 2026, in Baton Rouge, La. | Rep. Julia Letlow speaks throughout a marketing campaign occasion on Might 6, 2026, in Franklinton, La. | Louisiana treasurer John Fleming greets supporters in Baton Rouge, La., Might 12, 2026.
Tyler Kaufman/Getty Photographs (2) | Gerald Herbert/AP
With almost 100% of the estimated vote counted, Letlow led with 45% of the vote, adopted by Fleming with 28%, based on the AP. Cassidy trailed with about 25% of the vote.
The first defeat marks a shocking loss for Cassidy and a possible warning to different Republicans who threat defying the president, as Trump has sought to oust these he views as disloyal. Trump-backed candidates lately defeated a number of Indiana state senators who opposed his redistricting plans.
Cassidy’s defeat makes him the primary sitting senator to lose a major since 2017 and the primary elected incumbent senator to lose a major since 2012 — when Indiana GOP Sen. Richard Lugar misplaced his race to a Tea Celebration challenger.
Trump celebrates
In a publish on his social media platform, Trump celebrated Cassidy’s projected defeat and congratulated Letlow.
U.S. Senate candidate Rep. Julia Letlow, R-La., speaks to supporters throughout an election evening watch occasion Saturday, Might 16, 2026, in Baton Rouge, La.
Matthew Hinton/AP Picture/Matthew Hinton
“Julia Letlow is a incredible particular person and, after taking good care of some extra enterprise, will make a superb Senator for the Nice Folks of Louisiana,” Trump mentioned within the publish.
In speech to supporters in Baton Rouge on Saturday evening, Letlow opened her remarks thanking Trump.
U.S. Senate candidate, present Louisiana treasurer and former U.S. Consultant John Fleming, speaks at a Ronald Reagan Newsmaker Luncheon in Baton Rouge, La., Might 12, 2026.
Gerald Herbert/AP
“I need to say thanks to a really particular man, who you all know – the most effective president this nation has ever had: President Donald Trump,” Letlow mentioned.
“When he endorsed me in January, I knew this was going to be a tricky race, however tonight Louisiana despatched a transparent message — that they need a candidate to signify them within the Senate who will all the time put America first and by no means flip her again on Louisiana voters,” Letlow continued.
In remarks to his supporters on Saturday, Cassidy acknowledged the race did not go the way in which he wished.
“However you do not pout, you do not whine, you do not declare the election was stolen,” he mentioned. “You do not manufacture some excuse – you thank the voters for the privilege of representing the state or the nation for so long as you have had that privilege, and that is what I am doing proper now.”
On the marketing campaign path
On the marketing campaign path, Letlow, a three-term congresswoman, was something however shy about Trump’s endorsement, casting Cassidy as disloyal and Fleming as out of contact with the president. Her marketing campaign messaging targeted partly on defending parental rights and securing the border.
Fleming, a former congressman who later served in numerous roles within the first Trump administration, pitched himself to voters as essentially the most staunch conservative, although he didn’t obtain a public endorsement from Trump.
For his half, Cassidy, a doctor who was first elected to the Senate seat in 2014, argued his document proved he delivered for Louisianans and sought to tie himself to Trump — campaigning on a conservative agenda, arguing in opposition to abortion, supporting “robust borders” and co-sponsoring the SAVE America Act, a legislative precedence for Trump.
Senator Invoice Cassidy (R-LA), along with his spouse Dr. Laura Cassidy by his facet, addresses his supporters as he concedes his major election contest throughout an occasion at Boudreaux’s Caterers on Might 16, 2026 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The 2-term incumbent, who voted in favor of President Trump’s impeachment in 2021, was unable to fend off two major challengers, Trump-endorsed Rep. Julia Letlow and state treasurer John Fleming who’re headed for a run-off in late June.
Michael Democker/Getty Photographs
Trump’s endorsement
Trump upended Cassidy’s reelection bid in late January when he inspired Letlow to enter in hopes of defeating Cassidy.
Trump sought to punish Cassidy, who broke with the occasion as one in all seven senators to vote to convict Trump for his position in inciting the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. The 57-43 vote fell shy of the 67 vote threshold wanted to convict Trump.
In a Saturday morning Reality Social publish — roughly two hours after polls opened –Trump once more ripped on the two-term incumbent whereas endorsing Letlow. He referred to as Cassidy “disloyal” and castigated him for utilizing his identify all through the marketing campaign.
Regardless of their fraught relationship, Cassidy has, at instances, supported Trump’s agenda. Cassidy, a doctor and longtime proponent of vaccines, grilled Well being Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — a vaccine skeptic — throughout his affirmation listening to however forged the deciding vote to advance his nomination.
But for some, Cassidy’s vote to convict Trump might have been sufficient to do him in.
Robert Hogan, a political science professor at Louisiana State College, informed ABC Information forward of the first that some voters nonetheless had a “visceral” response to Cassidy’s vote to convict the president.
“The Republican activists have been unforgiving,” Hogan mentioned. “This says much less about Cassidy, I might say, than it says in regards to the nature of the attraction that voters have in direction of Trump.”
