SIGforum.com Main Page The Lounge Bill Cassidy of Louisiana primaried/// ***Update: And Massie is gone!
Main Page The Lounge Bill Cassidy of Louisiana primaried/// ***Update: And Massie is gone!Go | New | Find | Notify | Tools | Reply | |
Oriental Redneck |
Next week, Massie. Trump scores major Republican primary victory as Cassidy ousted in Louisiana Cassidy becomes the first elected GOP senator to lose renomination since 2012 after backing Trump's conviction By Paul Steinhauser | Fox News Published May 16, 2026 10:53pm EDT Five and a half years ago after he voted to convict President Donald Trump in his impeachment trial, GOP Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana was sent packing by Republican voters as he ran for re-election. Trump-backed Rep. Julia Letlow and Louisiana Treasurer John Fleming topped Cassidy in Saturday's GOP primary, according to The Associated Press. With most results tabulated late in the evening, Letlow stood at 45% of the vote, Fleming at roughly 28% and Cassidy at just under 25%, Since no candidate cracked 50% of the vote, Letlow and Fleming will advance to next month's runoff for the Republican nomination. And Cassidy becomes the first elected Republican senator to lose renomination since Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana in 2012 While he wasn't on the ballot, Trump is a winner, as the primary in the solidly red state was the latest test of his endorsements in GOP nomination races and of the president's immense grip over the Republican Party. Trump on Saturday morning took aim at Cassidy, arguing the senator is "a disloyal disaster" and "a sleazebag, a terrible guy, who is BAD FOR LOUISIANA." And after Cassidy was defeated, Trump returned to social media to revel in the senator's ouster, saying "it’s nice to see that his political career is OVER!" Cassidy, in a speech to supporters after conceding, said "when you participate in democracy, sometimes it doesn't turn out the way you want it to." "But you don't pout, you don't whine. You don't claim the election was stolen… You don't manufacture some excuse," Cassidy said in an apparent jab at Trump. "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." The Louisiana primary was held a week and a half after Indiana's primary, where Trump-backed challengers ousted five sitting Republican state senators who last December teamed up with Democrats to defeat the president's push for congressional redistricting in the GOP-dominated Midwestern state. Letlow, speaking to supporters at her primary night celebration, thanked Trump for his endorsement. "Louisiana made it clear tonight: we are ready for strong conservative leadership that will stand with President Trump and never waver," she added in a post on X. Letlow was backed by Trump even before she entered the race in January. "Not only did he encourage me to get into this race, but also to have his complete and total endorsement has been, wow, the honor of a lifetime," Letlow told Fox News Digital on the eve of the primary. Trump's endorsement in the nomination race weighed heavily in a state he carried by 22 points in his 2024 election victory. "It's the most powerful endorsement in the world," Letlow said, adding that Louisiana Republicans "are huge fans of the president." Letlow was also backed by Republican Gov. Jeff Landry of Louisiana, a top Trump ally. After cruising to re-election six years ago, Cassidy was one of only seven Senate Republicans who voted in early 2021 to convict Trump after he was impeached by the House for his role in the violent Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by supporters who aimed to upend congressional certification of former President Joe Biden's 2020 election victory. Trump was acquitted by the Senate. But since the start of Trump's second term, Cassidy has been supportive of the president's agenda and his nominees, including voting to approve Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. But Kennedy and his Make America Healthy Again movement were out for revenge. That's because Cassidy, a doctor, has been a skeptic of Kennedy's push to reform the nation's health policies, including Kennedy's efforts to cut back on vaccine recommendations. And Kennedy allies blamed Cassidy, chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, for helping sink the surgeon general nomination of Casey Means, a close Kennedy ally and top MAHA advocate, after Cassidy did not bring it to a committee vote. Meanwhile, Trump blasted the senator as a "very disloyal person" and on the eve of the primary, the president took to social media to praise Letlow as a "Highly Respected America First Congresswoman." Cassidy highlighted his record over two terms in the Senate in delivering for Louisiana, which is one of the nation's poorest states. And he's showcased his support for Louisiana's large oil and gas industry, which accounts for roughly 15% of the state's workforce. "When people ask things such as, can you work with President Trump, I point out that he has signed into law four bills that I wrote or negotiated," the senator said in a Fox News Digital interview on Friday. "We continue to work together, by the way." And Cassidy touted that he's "a conservative senator who delivers." Cassidy and an allied super PAC dished out more than $20 million on ads, according to AdImpact, a national ad tracking firm. That total was more than Letlow and Fleming, combined, spent. Some of those ads knocked Letlow over her past support for diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs during her tenure at the University of Louisiana at Monroe. Cassidy argued that Republican voters are "concerned about her shifting position on DEI. She was all in for DEI." Defending her record, Letlow told Fox News Digital that "back in 2020 whenever DEI was introduced to us, we had no idea what it was back then, and I quickly witnessed it. I was in higher education at the time. I quickly witnessed the left completely hijack it, turn it into this Marxist leftist indoctrination of our children. And so, when I got to Congress for the last five years, I've been fighting against it. Letlow also faced scrutiny from her rivals over her failure to disclose over 200 personal stock and bond trades within the mandated 45-day reporting deadline for members of Congress. She said it "was a reporting error on my financial advisor's part. And once I realized that that had happened, I quickly remedied it. It has never happened since." And Letlow charged that the criticism of her from Cassidy and Fleming over DEI and stock trading was "all baseless attacks, desperate attacks." Letlow won her congressional seat in 2021, after her husband, Luke Letlow, died six days after being sworn into the U.S. House after his 2020 election victory for the seat she now holds. Fleming, who served as a White House deputy chief of staff during Trump’s first term, argued that he was the most conservative candidate in the GOP Senate primary. 'They see me clearly MAGA," Fleming told Fox News Digital, as he referred to Louisiana Republicans. "I served in his entire first administration at various capacities. I was one of the first congressmen that endorsed him in 2016." Meanwhile, Fleming claimed that Letlow was "not the prototype for a Trump endorsement. She's much more like a Democrat." The winner of the Republican runoff will be considered the clear favorite in the general election to keep the Senate seat in Republican hands.This message has been edited. Last edited by: 12131, Q | ||
|
| Member |
"Well, Bye!" -------------------------- Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats. -- H L Mencken I always prefer reality when I can figure out what it is. -- JALLEN 10/18/18 | |||
|
| Lawyers, Guns and Money  |
Trump calls for GOP challenger to Rep. Boebert as she campaigns with Massie in Kentucky President Trump threatened to pull his endorsement of Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) on Saturday, as she campaigned with Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) ahead of a tough reelection fight. Trump railed against Boebert in a pair of back-to-back posts on Truth Social, calling her “weak-minded” and asking if there was “anyone interested” in challenging her in the GOP primary for Colorado’s 4th congressional district. “Boebert is campaigning for the Worst ‘Republican’ Congressman in the History of our Country, Thomas Massie, of the Great Commonwealth of Kentucky, and anybody who can be that dumb deserves a good Primary fight!” Trump wrote in one post. “Even though I long ago endorsed Boebert, if the right person came along, it would be my Honor to withdraw that Endorsement, and endorse a good and proper alternative,” he said. Boebert opted to run in the 4th District in 2024, hoping to avoid an expensive and crowded House race taking shape in her previous seat. The seat, which covers the easternmost part of the state, is rated solidly Republican by the nonpartisan Cook Political Report. The filing deadline for Boebert’s seat was in March, and information from the Colorado Secretary of State’s office indicates she is running unopposed in the June 30 GOP primary. Boebert, a hardline conservative, has historically been one of Trump’s strongest supporters in Congress, but their relationship has experienced some friction in recent months. She voiced frustration with the president in December after he vetoed legislation aimed at completing a project that would have delivered water to 50,000 people in southeastern Colorado. She has also aligned herself with Massie, being one of four Republicans to back a discharge petition on Massie and Rep. Ro Khanna’s (D-Calif.) bill that forced the Justice Department to release millions of files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. “Yes, I saw the President’s post. No I’m not mad or offended,” Boebert wrote on the social platform X on Saturday in response to Trump’s criticism. “I knew the risks when I agreed to stand by my friend Thomas Massie. I was, and will be, America First, America Always, and MAGA,” she added. https://thehill.com/homenews/c...-endorsement-threat/ "Some things are apparent. Where government moves in, community retreats, civil society disintegrates and our ability to control our own destiny atrophies. The result is: families under siege; war in the streets; unapologetic expropriation of property; the precipitous decline of the rule of law; the rapid rise of corruption; the loss of civility and the triumph of deceit. The result is a debased, debauched culture which finds moral depravity entertaining and virtue contemptible." -- Justice Janice Rogers Brown "The United States government is the largest criminal enterprise on earth." -rduckwor | |||
|
Get Off My Lawn |
Lindsey Graham can be correct some of the time, and yes, he has this one down. And good riddance Billy Cassidy.
https://www.breitbart.com/clip...stroy-trumps-agenda/ "I’m not going to read Time Magazine, I’m not going to read Newsweek, I’m not going to read any of these magazines; I mean, because they have too much to lose by printing the truth"- Bob Dylan, 1965 | |||
|
Member |
Disloyal Traitor. _________________________ | |||
|
Sigforum K9 handler |
I don’t know that Massey will go quietly. He is extremely well liked by his district. Most of the state is about fed up with the out of state money that has poured in for our elections. I get 3-4 mailers a day from PACs claiming this or that. And generally, all of the mailers attack only the strongest candidate. It’s weird that the PACs seem to focus on getting weak candidates elected. Massey could win the nomination out of spite. ________________ People hate you. Train like it. | |||
|
Cynic |
We kicked Cassidy to the curb here in Louisiana yesterday. _______________________________________________________ And no, junior not being able to hold still for 5 seconds is not a disability. | |||
|
Drill Here, Drill Now |
Kudos to Louisiana voters. Tomorrow starts in-person early voting for Texas run-off primaries. Several key races didn't have 1 person get above 50% so they are in a run-off. Here is the only national seat on my ballot (i.e. others locales may have US House of Rep candidates, but I know nothing about them): Here are seats with Texas implications: Ego is the anesthesia that deadens the pain of stupidity DISCLAIMER: These are the author's own personal views and do not represent the views of the author's employer. | |||
|
| Partial dichotomy |
Is it surprising those endorsements are different? SIGforum: For all your needs! Imagine our influence if every gun owner in America was an NRA member! Click the box>>>  | |||
|
| Drill Here, Drill Now |
It was to me. It appears that Wright followed all of the TX Attorney General's (i.e. Paxton's current job) guidance and I can't find anything from Paxton stating otherwise. I'll be early voting so I'm all ears if a Sigforumite finds something concrete I didn't. Wright's background is ranching (i.e. frequently oil & gas leases on TX ranch property) and the environmental and waste disposal side of oil & gas. Running on his record of applying the existing laws. French is an investor, DFW political insider, and MAGA conservative, but 2/3 of issues he is running on are actually controlled by the TX legislature not the RRC. Ego is the anesthesia that deadens the pain of stupidity DISCLAIMER: These are the author's own personal views and do not represent the views of the author's employer. | |||
|
| Thank you Very little  |
Kentucky has always been an enigma when it comes to politics, typically conservative, sending R to DC and D to the Governors house. Then turn around and load the State house with R which has been good as they have pretty much veto'd Little Andy's crazy ideas. You get Rand Paul, McConnell and then Massie who's morphed into a libertarian anti Trumper more extreme though then Paul, but not quite the level of McConnell of anti Trumper on many things. Massie needs to go for nothing other than if he wins he'll be a bigger PIA to the MAGA group then MTG and McConnell combined, he'll be the next McConnell only louder... KY can do better. | |||
|
| Knows too little about too much  |
Couldn't have happened to a more worthless rino. RMD TL Davis: “The Second Amendment is special, not because it protects guns, but because its violation signals a government with the intention to oppress its people…” Remember: After the first one, the rest are free. | |||
|
| Staring back from the abyss  |
Chip Roy is a RINO? Guess I haven't been paying attention. I sure like what he's been trying to do vis-a-vis the muslim problem. ________________________________________________________ It is long past time for a Convention of States. The Founding Fathers gave us this tool to fix an out of control government and we need to use it. | |||
|
| Drill Here, Drill Now |
Trump has had a turbulent, rocky relationship with Chip Roy and has frequently criticized him including calling him an "obstructionist" and "another ambitious guy, with no talent." Not once but twice tried to get Roy primaried, and the last time Roy decided not to run for Congress and instead decided to run for Texas AG. For instance, here is one of many examples. Ego is the anesthesia that deadens the pain of stupidity DISCLAIMER: These are the author's own personal views and do not represent the views of the author's employer. | |||
|
| Member |
I like Trump, and I support him probably 95% of the time. I would say that I’m definitely an America first conservative. Having said that, Trump’s endorsements don’t carry nearly the weight with me that they do with a lot of others. He’s backed some absolutely great folks and he’s backed some absolute stinkers too. It’s clear to me that Trump puts absolute loyalty to Trump as the only thing that really matters when he makes an endorsement. Loyalty to Trump is absolutely NOT what matters most to me, and I suspect many other conservatives as well. Cassidy’s fate was sealed when he voted to convict Trump in his last impeachment. Someone, like Chip Roy for example, that has occasionally had dust ups with Trump is not nearly equivalent to what Cassidy did in voting to convict Trump. As for me, I vote as if gun rights are the ONLY thing that matters in national elections. Trump’s endorsement isn’t enough to overcome a candidate’s views towards gun rights if there’s any dispute as far as I’m concerned. That’s why if I was represented by Lauren Boebert for example, she would have my vote no matter whether she has Trump’s endorsement or not. She has been firmly in the “not one inch” against gun rights camp and that’s really all that matters to me, even if one has occasional disagreements with Trump. “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.” | |||
|
| Lawyers, Guns and Money |
Good observations. I like Trump too but his endorsements don’t carry nearly the weight with me that they do with a lot of others, either. "Some things are apparent. Where government moves in, community retreats, civil society disintegrates and our ability to control our own destiny atrophies. The result is: families under siege; war in the streets; unapologetic expropriation of property; the precipitous decline of the rule of law; the rapid rise of corruption; the loss of civility and the triumph of deceit. The result is a debased, debauched culture which finds moral depravity entertaining and virtue contemptible." -- Justice Janice Rogers Brown "The United States government is the largest criminal enterprise on earth." -rduckwor | |||
|
Dances with Wiener Dogs |
 _______________________ “The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws.” Ayn Rand “If we relinquish our rights because of fear, what is it exactly, then, we are fighting for?” Sen. Rand Paul | |||
|
| Drill Here, Drill Now |
Being a Thune and McConnell ally should have consequences https://x.com/ScottPresler/sta...446169981460809?s=20 Ego is the anesthesia that deadens the pain of stupidity DISCLAIMER: These are the author's own personal views and do not represent the views of the author's employer. | |||
|
Objectively Reasonable |
I'd rather have a R representing my district who occasionally disagrees with POTUS than a Democrat elected because the "Trump Endorsed" nominee is incapable of capturing the "middle" that's needed to actually be elected. My Republican U.S. Representative is in line with "the Party" better than 85% of the time but got excoriated by Trump in the last election because he wasn't quite MAGA enough. It ignores the absolute political reality on the ground when you have a congressional district split more or less evenly between R and D. Don't get me started on backing Doctor Oz. It got us Fetterman. | |||
|
| Oriental Redneck |
*** AMF Massie! *** 19:58 EDT 19 May 2026, updated 20:01 EDT 19 May 2026 By VICTORIA CHURCHILL, US POLITICAL REPORTER President Donald Trump has vanquished his top nemesis on Capitol Hill. Seven-term Republican Congressman Thomas Massie of Kentucky was handily defeated Tuesday by Trump's hand-picked challenger, Ed Gallrein, the Associated Press projected. Gallrein, a retired Navy Seal and farmer, was chosen by the President's political operation to oust Massie after the incumbent relentlessly pushed for the release of the files surrounding the deceased pedophile Jeffrey Epstein and bucked the President on his signature One Beautiful Bill tax legislation last summer. The race amounted to a continuation of Trump's bitter revenge tour and underscores his unmatched power over the Republican party even as his personal popularity continues to dwindle during his second term. On Saturday Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy, who voted to convict Trump after the January 6 Capitol riot, failed to even make his state's GOP runoff. More than $32 million flooded into the northern Kentucky race, with Trump and pro-Israel groups backing challenger Gallrein and blanketing the airwaves with attack ads against Massie, who was accustomed to cruising to re-election. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth made an unusual last-minute trip to the district Monday to endorse Gallrein, who largely kept his campaign away from media scrutiny. Trump himself unleashed a torrent of attacks in the final hours ahead of the election, calling Massie 'a disloyal, ungracious, and sanctimonious FOOL,' the 'worst and most unreliable Republican Congressman in the history of our Country,' and 'a totally ineffective LOSER.' Trump's fury extended even to Representative Lauren Boebert, a deep MAGA loyalist who dared to campaign for Massie - prompting the president to call her 'weak-minded' and float a primary challenge against her. Massie had attempted to hold onto his seat by showcasing Gallrein's past animosity toward Trump. He's presented voter registration cards he claims show Gallrein quit the GOP after Trump's initial presidential win in 2016. 'I call them voter transition cards. He transitioned out of the party and stayed out for five years,' Massie said at a GOP event back in March. A Massie TV ad is also blasting Gallrein as 'woke Eddie,' who turned his back on the Trump movement. But Massie's personal charisma and incumbency couldn't overcome the iron-fisted grip Trump holds over Republicans. He faced a torrent of explosive personal allegations just as the race closed. Cynthia West, a former Capitol Hill staffer who claims she had a brief romantic relationship with the congressman after the death of his wife, Rhonda, in 2024, said Massie used a secret 'burner' phone he jokingly called a 'boner phone.' She also claimed he boasted about a past fling with Boebert, even describing her as the 'hottest woman in Congress.' Neither Boebert nor Massie publicly addressed the allegation, though Boebert campaigned for Massie this past weekend ahead of his primary, as did several other Republicans, including Ohio Congressman Warren Davidson, Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, and former Michigan Congressman Justin Amash. West also accused Massie of attempting to silence her with a $5,000 hush-money offer, which Massie has denied. The President has already claimed wins against Cassidy and a group of Indiana state senators who were ousted on May 5 after opposing his preferred plan to redraw the state's congressional districts. Q | |||
|
| Powered by Social Strata | Page 1 2 3 4 |
 | Please Wait. Your request is being processed... |
|
SIGforum.com Main Page The Lounge Bill Cassidy of Louisiana primaried/// ***Update: And Massie is gone!
Main Page The Lounge Bill Cassidy of Louisiana primaried/// ***Update: And Massie is gone!© SIGforum 2026