Louisiana Republican Senator Bill Cassidy, who is retiring, described his party’s performance in the U.S. midterm elections as a “heavy defeat” and said that many voters did not see Republicans as a political force working in their interests.
“Most voters do not believe that we were there to serve them,” Cassidy told CNN.His comment came after an election in which Democrats won control of the House of Representatives and the Senate. The result was widely seen as a major blow to President Donald Trump and the Republican Party.
Cassidy has already lost his seat in the primary election
Cassidy himself will not be part of the next Senate. He lost the Republican primary in Louisiana on May 16, 2026, after finishing third and failing to qualify for the runoff.
Julia Letlow received 44.8% of the vote, while John Fleming received 28.3%. Cassidy received 24.8%. Letlow was endorsed by Trump, and the clash between the president and the senator intensified over a number of disagreements, including Cassidy’s vote in the impeachment trial following the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.
Cassidy is one of the Republicans who voted to convict Trump. His primary loss was presented as a political victory for the president and as a sign that intra-party loyalty to Trump had become a decisive factor for Republican Party candidates.
The result in Louisiana was narrower than expected
After Cassidy’s elimination, Letlow also won the Senate seat itself. She defeated Democrat Jamie Davis by less than two percentage points, even though Louisiana is a state where Trump won by 22 percentage points in the 2024 presidential election.
Letlow’s narrow victory was among the results showing that discontent with Trump’s administration had also affected traditionally Republican areas. According to a voter survey cited by The Associated Press, around six out of every ten voters disapprove of the way the president is performing his duties.
Cassidy did not identify a specific successor or a single reason for the party’s defeat. In his interview, he focused attention on a broader problem—the feeling among voters that politicians are failing to carry out their fundamental task of representing citizens’ interests.
Sources: cnn.com, apnews.com