Cassidy defends Trump impeachment vote after losing Louisiana primary
Bill Cassidy said he would rather lose his Senate career than regret voting to convict Trump, as Louisiana Republicans punished his break with the former president.
Bill Cassidy returned to the U.S. Capitol on May 18 with no apologies for the vote that helped define his political fate. After losing his Louisiana Republican primary two days earlier, the senator said he would rather be remembered for standing on principle than for protecting his career, framing his 2021 impeachment vote as loyalty to the Constitution, not to Donald Trump.
Cassidy was one of seven Republican senators who voted to convict Trump in the second impeachment trial, which centered on the charge of incitement of insurrection after the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol. The Senate vote on Feb. 13, 2021, ended 57-43, well short of the 67 votes needed for conviction. Louisiana Republicans quickly censured Cassidy, and Trump later made clear he wanted him out.
Cassidy said he had no regrets about what he called his “momentous” vote. “I voted to uphold the Constitution,” he said, repeating a defense that has followed him for five years. On his official website, he has said, “Our Constitution and our country is more important than any one person. I voted to convict President Trump because he is guilty.”
Louisiana voters delivered a blunt verdict on May 16. With nearly all of the estimated vote counted, Julia Letlow finished first with about 44.8% to 45%, John Fleming took second with about 28.3% to 28.4%, and Cassidy trailed in third with about 25%, according to Associated Press reporting. Letlow and Fleming advanced to a June 27 runoff, while Cassidy became the first elected incumbent senator to lose a primary since 2012.
The result made the race a test of how much room remains inside the Republican Party for a senator who breaks with Trump. Letlow had Trump’s endorsement, and Gov. Jeff Landry also backed her. Fleming, a former congressman and Trump White House aide, drew strong grassroots support. Cassidy also faced criticism from MAGA voters over his skepticism of Trump’s nomination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead Health and Human Services, another sign that independence from Trump can carry a broader political cost in the modern GOP.
In his concession speech, Cassidy told supporters, “But you don’t pout, you don’t whine, you don’t claim the election was stolen,” then added that the country belongs to the welfare of all Americans and the Constitution, not one individual. His loss offered a sharp answer to a question that has shadowed Republican politics since Jan. 6: in today’s party, will voters still reward independent judgment, or only allegiance to Trump?
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