By Patrick Svitek, CNN
(CNN) — Louisiana Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy wanted his reelection campaign to be about the “present and the future.” President Donald Trump had other plans.
Five years after Cassidy voted to convict Trump in his second impeachment, the senator lost his primary for reelection to a Trump-endorsed challenger – and a second challenger who also embraced Trump. Trump-backed Rep. Julia Letlow and Louisiana State Treasurer John Fleming are now headed to a runoff.
Cassidy became the first GOP senator to lose renomination in close to a decade, a remarkable downfall that shows again how Trump dominates the party.
He signaled in his concession speech, without mentioning Trump, that he could spend the final months of his term being more of a thorn in Trump’s side – or at least more openly critical of his party.
“Let me just set the record straight: Our country is not about one individual. It is about the welfare of all Americans and it is about our Constitution,” Cassidy said. “And if someone doesn’t understand that and attempts to control others through using the levers of power, they’re about serving themselves. They’re not about serving us. And that person is not qualified to be a leader.”
Here are our takeaways from primary night in Louisiana:
Trump’s grip on the party
Cassidy had sought to paper over his impeachment vote by touting a good working relationship with Trump, noting Trump signed four bills in which he had a big role. But Cassidy could not overcome the reality that siding against Trump on impeachment has become a lasting litmus test for GOP voters – and for the president.
Letlow, Fleming and Trump brought up the issue regularly, and Trump was especially aggrieved that Cassidy voted to convict him after Trump backed him in his last reelection bid.
“His disloyalty to the man who got him elected is now a part of legend, and it’s nice to see that his political career is OVER!” Trump wrote Saturday night on social media.
In backing Letlow against Cassidy, Trump achieved something he has not done yet in his extraordinary political career: defeat a senator from his own party in a primary. It came as he looks to unseat one of the biggest GOP mavericks in Congress — Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie — in a House primary Tuesday.
Cassidy takes road less traveled
One of the reasons that Trump has not defeated a Republican senator until now is because his earlier intraparty critics chose not to seek reelection rather than face his wrath in a primary, with North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis being the most recent example. Cassidy made clear early on that he would not go out without a fight.
In his concession speech, he said he had no regrets.
“I’ve been able to participate in democracy,” he said, “and when you participate in democracy, sometimes it doesn’t turn out the way you want it to.”
Cassidy’s defeat could be a warning sign to another Senate Republican who’s previously irked Trump and has forged ahead with a challenging reelection bid: Sen. John Cornyn in neighboring Texas. But unlike in Louisiana, Trump has stayed out of the contest between Cornyn and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, which will be resolved in a May 26 runoff.
An intriguing runoff
With Cassidy out of the picture, the runoff between Letlow and Fleming raises new questions about who the president’s supporters in Louisiana prefer for the seat.
While Letlow starts the overtime round as the favorite, Fleming proved to be resilient in the primary as he pitched himself as the true pro-Trump candidate. He is a former congressman who worked in the White House during Trump’s first term.
Notably, Trump referred to both challengers as “two great people” in a social media post as the voting in the primary began Saturday morning.
In her primary night speech, Letlow suggested she would not take the runoff for granted, promising to travel throughout the state again. Trump spoke of the runoff a bit more flippantly – while making clear he remained firmly behind Letlow.
“Julia Letlow is a fantastic person and, after taking care of some additional business, will make a brilliant Senator for the Great People of Louisiana,” he wrote on social media.
Cassidy unleashed?
Tillis has been more outspoken about the Trump administration since deciding against seeking reelection. Tillis recently held up Trump’s nomination of Kevin Warsh to chair the Federal Reserve to pressure the Justice Department to drop its investigation into then-Chair Jay Powell.
Cassidy said Saturday night that the country is “not about one individual” and went on to contrast himself with unnamed “leaders” who are more concerned about themselves than the people they serve. And he brought up his experience of “being attacked on the internet,” speaking minutes before Trump launched his latest broadside against him accusing him of disloyalty.
“Insults only bother me if they come from somebody of character and integrity,” Cassidy said. “I find that people of character and integrity don’t spend their time attacking people on the internet.”
Earlier in his speech, Cassidy made another apparent reference to Trump — and his denial that he lost the 2020 election — while extolling the virtues of democracy.
“You don’t pout, you don’t whine, you don’t claim that the election was stolen … you don’t manufacture some excuse,” Cassidy said. “You thank the voters for the privilege of representing the state or the country for as long as you’ve had that privilege. And that’s what I’m doing right now.”
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