{"id":327339,"date":"2026-01-23T12:18:21","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T12:18:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/political\/republican-drops-primary-challenge-against-incumbent-sen-cassidy-after-trump-backed-candidate-enters-race.html"},"modified":"2026-01-23T12:18:21","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T12:18:21","slug":"republican-drops-primary-challenge-against-incumbent-sen-cassidy-after-trump-backed-candidate-enters-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/political\/republican-drops-primary-challenge-against-incumbent-sen-cassidy-after-trump-backed-candidate-enters-race.html","title":{"rendered":"Republican drops primary challenge against incumbent Sen Cassidy after Trump-backed candidate enters race"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>  <a href=\"javascript:void(0)\">    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/timesofnews.b-cdn.net\/timesofnewscdn\/usa\/1e8158c7_image.jpg\" alt=\"Sen. Cassidy weighs ACA tax credit extension as Obamacare premiums rise\" width=\"896\" height=\"500\" data-v-324c3b57=\"\" \/> <span class=\"overlay\" data-v-324c3b57=\"\">Video<\/span><\/a> <!--&gt; \n\n<h4 class=\"title\" data-v-324c3b57=\"\"><a href=\"javascript:void(0)\">Sen. Cassidy weighs ACA tax credit extension as Obamacare premiums rise<\/a><\/h4>\n\n \n\n<p data-v-324c3b57=\"\">Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., joins 'Fox News Sunday' to discuss rising Obamacare premiums, bipartisan talks on ACA tax credits, abortion coverage and his take on recent CDC changes to the childhood vaccine schedule.<\/p>\n\n \n\n<p class=\"speakable\">Louisiana state Rep. Julie Emerson announced on Thursday that she was nixing her U.S. Senate bid in light of President <a href=\"javascript:void(0)\">Donald Trump<\/a>-backed U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow entering the GOP primary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"speakable\">\"With Congresswoman Letlow's entrance into the race, the path to victory that was visible a couple of months ago has diminished. I support President Trump and respect his decision to endorse Julia Letlow to defeat Bill Cassidy. Because of this, I'm choosing to end my campaign now,\" Emerson said in a <a href=\"javascript:void(0)\">statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Incumbent Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of <a href=\"javascript:void(0)\">Louisiana<\/a>, who has served in the U.S. Senate since 2015, is running for re-election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"javascript:void(0)\"><strong>TRUMP ENDORSEMENT ROCKS LOUSIANA SENATE RACE AS LETLOW JUMPS IN<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/timesofnews.b-cdn.net\/timesofnewscdn\/usa\/d4a8c6f0_julie-emerson-screenshot-edit.jpg\" alt=\"Louisiana state Rep. Julie Emerson\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" \/> \n\n<p><span>Still shot from \"Julie Emerson to challenge Cassidy for U.S. Senate.\"<\/span> <span>(YouTube\/@JulieEmersonLA)<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After the House impeached Trump in 2021, Cassidy was one of the Senate Republicans who voted to convict during a vote that occurred after Trump had already departed from office \u2014 the Senate vote ultimately fell short of the threshold required to convict Trump.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The president pledged his endorsement to Letlow in a Truth Social post on Saturday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"javascript:void(0)\"><strong>WHO IS JOHN FLEMING, THE FREEDOM CAUCUS FOUNDING MEMBER CHALLENGING GOP SEN BILL CASSIDY?<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/timesofnews.b-cdn.net\/timesofnewscdn\/usa\/a8967acb_sen-bill-cassidy-september-2025.jpg\" alt=\"Sen. Bill Cassidy\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" \/> \n\n<p><span>Chairman Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., arrives for a hearing of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Sept. 17, 2025 in Washington, D.C.<\/span> <span>(Kevin Dietsch\/Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\"Should she decide to enter this Race, Julia Letlow has my Complete and Total Endorsement. RUN, JULIA, RUN!!!\" the president exclaimed in the <a href=\"javascript:void(0)\">post<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Letlow launched a Senate bid days later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"javascript:void(0)\"><strong>GOP LOUISIANA STATE SENATOR SAYS HE'S RUNNING FOR US SENATE BECAUSE INCUMBENT REPUBLICAN \u2018SUCKS\u2019<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/timesofnews.b-cdn.net\/timesofnewscdn\/usa\/de71f2c8_gettyimages-2250722779-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"President Donald Trump, Rep. Julia Letlow, and first lady Melania Trump\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" \/> \n\n<p><span>President Donald Trump, Rep. Julia Letlow, R-La., and first lady Melania Trump during the Congressional Ball in the Grand Foyer of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025.<\/span> <span>(Shawn Thew\/EPA\/Bloomberg via Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\"Today, I am announcing my candidacy for the United States Senate to ensure the nation we leave our children is safer and stronger. Louisiana deserves a conservative Senator who will not waver. I am honored to have President Trump\u2019s endorsement and trust. Let\u2019s Geaux!\" she declared in a Tuesday <a href=\"javascript:void(0)\">post<\/a> on X.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"javascript:void(0)\"><strong>CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Louisiana State Treasurer John Fleming and state Sen. Blake Miguez are also running in the Republican <a href=\"javascript:void(0)\">U.S. Senate<\/a> primary in the state.<\/p>\n\n --> <\/p>\n<p>Alex Nitzberg is a writer for Fox News Digital.<\/p>\n<p>Article source: https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/republican-drops-primary-challenge-against-incumbent-sen-cassidy-after-trump-backed-candidate-enters-race<\/a>\r\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Video Alex Nitzberg is a writer for Fox News Digital. Article source: https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/republican-drops-primary-challenge-against-incumbent-sen-cassidy-after-trump-backed-candidate-enters-race<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[84],"class_list":["post-327339","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-political","tag-political"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327339","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=327339"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327339\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=327339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=327339"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=327339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}