Posted on 07/30/2025 1:01:42 PM PDT by RandFan
Bill Cassidy is playing a gambit.
The Republican doctor from Louisiana appears ready to fight for his Senate seat next year, a race complicated by his checkered history with President Donald Trump and a new primary system that could make reelection more difficult.
His main hurdle? Convincing his Louisiana base that he’s gotten behind Trump’s agenda, despite his vote to convict Trump in his 2021 impeachment trial. His GOP challengers have already seized on that vote, pitching themselves as better Trump loyalists.
The gambit is that voters will be swayed by Cassidy’s late turn toward Trump, including support this year for the president’s controversial pick for Health and Human Services secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Going against the grain of the party ramps up the political risk, noted Chris Cooper, a professor of political science at Western Carolina University.
“That’s always been true for senators or any politicians, but that’s particularly true in the age of Donald Trump,” he said in an interview. “Where, if you are Republican and you cross Trump, you’re running the risk of him putting you on full alert on Truth Social, and sending a message that will be received by Republican voters.”
Further complicating his fate is Louisiana’s new closed primary system, which applies to his seat and means that he will be competing in a smaller and more conservative pool of voters.
John Couvillon, a Louisiana pollster who founded JMC Analytics & Polling, said the state’s previous primary system — in which all candidates ran in the same race and the top two finishers advanced to the general election — forced Republican candidates to consider moderate voters in the primary. The new system means a distinct shift to the right.
(Excerpt) Read more at rollcall.com ...
I’d rather a Democrat than a RINO. At least that way in the next election there’s a chance to get rid of the Democrat. I am sick and tired of RINO’s weaseling their way into a nomination and then making exactly the argument you’re making.
That way nothing changes. The corrupt gravy train rolls on forever.
Whatever turns you on is fine with me. I have heard of much more foolish things from others. You are not that bad.
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