2026年5月16日 美国东部时间晚上10:53 / 福克斯新闻
卡西迪成为2012年以来首位在党内连任初选中落败的当选共和党参议员，此前他曾投票支持弹劾特朗普
作者：保罗·斯坦豪泽 福克斯新闻
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五年半前，路易斯安那州共和党参议员比尔·卡西迪在弹劾审判中投下支持定罪特朗普的选票后，在连任竞选中被共和党选民赶下台。
据美联社报道，在周六的共和党初选中，获得特朗普背书的众议员朱莉娅·莱特洛和路易斯安那州财政部长约翰·弗莱明击败了卡西迪。
随着当晚晚些时候大部分计票结果出炉，莱特洛获得45%的选票，弗莱明约占28%，卡西迪仅略低于25%。由于没有候选人获得超过50%的选票，莱特洛和弗莱明将进入下月的共和党提名决选。卡西迪也成为自2012年印第安纳州参议员理查德·卢格以来，首位在党内初选中落选的当选共和党参议员。
尽管特朗普并未参与本次选举，但他仍是赢家。在这个坚定的红色州举行的本次初选，是对他在共和党提名竞选背书效果的最新检验，也印证了这位总统对共和党的巨大掌控力。
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2026年5月15日，路易斯安那州参议员比尔·卡西迪在巴吞鲁日一家枪支零售商及射击场的竞选活动中与支持者碰拳，次日该州将举行参议院初选。（保罗·斯坦豪泽/福克斯新闻）
周六上午，特朗普抨击卡西迪，称这位参议员是“不忠的灾难”、“一个卑鄙小人，对路易斯安那州来说非常糟糕”。
卡西迪落败后，特朗普再次在社交媒体上庆祝这位参议员被淘汰，称“很高兴看到他的政治生涯结束了！”
卡西迪在向支持者发表的认输演讲中表示：“当你参与民主进程时，有时结果并不如你所愿。”
“但你不会赌气，不会抱怨。你不会声称选举被窃取……你不会编造借口，”卡西迪显然是在暗指特朗普，“你会感谢选民给予你代表该州或国家的特权，无论你拥有这项特权多久。而我现在正是这么做的。”
路易斯安那州初选在印第安纳州初选一周半后举行。在印第安纳州，特朗普背书的挑战者击败了五名现任共和党参议员——这些参议员去年12月与民主党人合作，在这个由共和党主导的中西部州挫败了特朗普推动的国会选区重划计划。
莱特洛在初选之夜的庆祝活动上向支持者发表讲话，感谢特朗普的背书。
美国路易斯安那州共和党参议院候选人、众议员朱莉娅·莱特洛于2026年5月16日周六在路易斯安那州巴吞鲁日的选举之夜守望集会上向支持者发表讲话。（马修·辛顿/美联社照片）
“路易斯安那州今晚明确表示：我们准备好迎接能与特朗普总统并肩作战、永不退缩的强大保守派领导，”她在X平台的帖子中补充道。
早在今年1月莱特洛宣布参选前，特朗普就已为她背书。
“他不仅鼓励我参选，还获得了他完全彻底的背书，这简直是我一生的荣幸，”莱特洛在初选前一天告诉福克斯新闻数字频道。
特朗普在本次提名竞选中的背书影响力巨大——该州在2024年大选中以22个百分点的优势支持特朗普。
“这是世界上最有分量的背书，”莱特洛说，并补充道路易斯安那州共和党人“非常支持总统”。
莱特洛还得到了特朗普的核心盟友、路易斯安那州州长杰夫·兰德里的支持。
路易斯安那州共和党众议员、参议院候选人朱莉娅·莱特洛于2026年5月15日在巴吞鲁日接受福克斯新闻数字频道采访，当天是该州初选的前一天。（保罗·斯坦豪泽/福克斯新闻）
六年前轻松连任后，卡西迪是2021年初七名投票支持定罪特朗普的参议院共和党议员之一。当时特朗普因支持者发动暴力袭击美国国会大厦、企图推翻前总统乔·拜登2020年大选胜选结果而遭众议院弹劾。参议院最终宣判特朗普无罪。
但自特朗普第二任期开始以来，卡西迪一直支持总统的议程及其提名人选，包括投票批准卫生与公众服务部长罗伯特·F·肯尼迪 Jr.的任命。
然而肯尼迪和他的“让美国再次健康”运动一直在寻求报复。
原因在于，作为医生的卡西迪一直对肯尼迪推动的美国医疗政策改革持怀疑态度，包括肯尼迪削减疫苗推荐接种范围的举措。
肯尼迪的盟友指责参议院卫生、教育、劳工和养老金委员会主席卡西迪，称其未将肯尼迪的亲密盟友、“让美国再次健康”运动核心倡导者凯西·米恩斯的卫生局局长提名提交委员会表决，从而阻碍了该提名的通过。
与此同时，特朗普称这位参议员是“非常不忠的人”，初选前一天，这位总统在社交媒体上称赞莱特洛是“备受尊敬的美国优先国会女议员”。
卡西迪强调了自己两届参议院任期内为路易斯安那州所做的工作——该州是美国最贫困的州之一。他还展示了自己对路易斯安那州大型石油和天然气行业的支持，该行业约占该州劳动力的15%。
https://www.foxnews.com/video/6395721410112
“当人们问我是否能与特朗普总统合作时，我会指出他已经签署了四项我起草或协商的法案，”这位参议员在周五接受福克斯新闻数字频道采访时表示，“顺便说一句，我们仍在合作。”
卡西迪还标榜自己是“务实的保守派参议员”。
据全国广告追踪公司AdImpact的数据，卡西迪及其关联的超级政治行动委员会投入了超过2000万美元的广告费用，这一总额超过了莱特洛和弗莱明的广告支出总和。
其中部分广告抨击莱特洛在路易斯安那大学门罗分校任职期间曾支持多元化、公平性和包容性（DEI）项目。
卡西迪认为，共和党选民“担忧她在DEI问题上的立场转变。她曾全力支持DEI”。
为自己的记录辩护时，莱特洛告诉福克斯新闻数字频道：“2020年DEI概念引入时，我们当时完全不知道这是什么。我很快就亲眼目睹了这一切。当时我在高等教育领域工作，我亲眼看到左翼彻底劫持了这个概念，将其变成了对我们孩子的马克思主义左翼灌输。因此，在过去五年进入国会后，我一直在与之斗争。”
莱特洛还因未在国会成员规定的45天报告期限内披露200多笔个人股票和债券交易而遭到对手的质疑。
她表示，“这是我的财务顾问的报告失误。一旦我发现此事，我立即进行了纠正，此后再也没有发生过。”
莱特洛还指责卡西迪和弗莱明就DEI问题和股票交易对她的批评“都是毫无根据的攻击，是绝望之举”。
2021年，莱特洛赢得了国会席位——她的丈夫卢克·莱特洛在2020年选举获胜后宣誓就职美国众议院议员仅六天就去世了，她随后接替了这个席位。
https://www.foxnews.com/video/6395751808112
曾在特朗普第一任期内担任白宫副幕僚长的弗莱明辩称，自己是共和党参议院初选中最保守的候选人。
“他们清楚地看到我是‘让美国再次伟大’的支持者，”弗莱明告诉福克斯新闻数字频道，他指的是路易斯安那州共和党人，“我在他的整个第一届政府中以不同身份任职。我是2016年最早背书他的国会议员之一。”
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与此同时，弗莱明声称莱特洛“不符合特朗普背书的标准。她更像一个民主党人”。
共和党决选的获胜者将被视为大选的热门人选，有望将参议院席位继续保留在共和党手中。
福克斯新闻记者卢克·特雷维桑为本报道贡献内容
保罗·斯坦豪泽是驻摇摆州新罕布什尔州的政治记者，全程报道全国各地的竞选活动。
Trump scores major Republican primary victory as Cassidy ousted in Louisiana
May 16, 2026 10:53pm EDT / Fox News
Cassidy becomes the first elected GOP senator to lose renomination since 2012 after backing Trump’s conviction
By Paul Steinhauser Fox News
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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.
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Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana fist bumps a supporter during a campaign stop at a gun retailer and firing range in Baton Rouge on May 15, 2026, the eve of the state’s Senate primary.(Paul Steinhauser/Fox News)
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.
U.S. Senate candidate Rep. Julia Letlow, R-La., speaks to supporters during an election night watch party Saturday, May 16, 2026, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.(Matthew Hinton/AP Photo)
“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.
Republican Rep. Julia Letlow of Louisiana, a Republican Senate candidate, speaks with Fox News Digital on the eve of the state’s primary, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana on May 15, 2026.(Paul Steinhauser/Fox News)
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.
https://www.foxnews.com/video/6395721410112
“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.
https://www.foxnews.com/video/6395751808112
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.”
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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.
Fox News’ Luke Trevisan contributed to this story
Paul Steinhauser is a politics reporter based in the swing state of New Hampshire. He covers the campaign trail from coast to coast.