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President Donald Trump’s overwhelming hold on the GOP and the strength of his support in the Republican nomination race face the latest test on Saturday, as Louisiana holds primary runoff elections for the U.S. Senate.
Six weeks after denying Trump-targeted GOP Sen. Bill Cassidy a third six-year term in the Senate, Republican voters in the solidly red Gulf Coast state will now choose between Rep. Julia Letlow and state Treasurer John Fleming for the open seat.
Letlow’s victory in the GOP runoff would be another victory for Trump as he works to fill the halls of Congress with loyal lawmakers for his final two years in the White House. But Fleming’s victory would be the third high-profile endorsement blow to Trump in this spring’s Republican primaries.
Five years after voting to convict Trump in his second impeachment trial, Cassidy was sent packing.
WATCH: Cassidy gives new details of behind-closed-doors confrontation with Trump
Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy attacked 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 Senate primary. (Paul Steinhauser/Fox News)
Letlow, who was already endorsed by Trump before entering the race in January, won 45% of the vote in the primary, with Fleming getting about 28% and Cassidy getting less than 25%. Since no candidate achieved 50% of the vote, Letlow and Fleming advanced to the Republican nomination and Cassidy became the first elected Republican senator to lose renomination since Senator Richard Lugar of Indiana in 2012.
Trump celebrated Cassidy’s defeat, saying on social media that “Good to see his political career is over!”
Cassidy took a dig at Trump in a speech to supporters after conceding defeat, saying, “When you participate in democracy, sometimes it doesn’t work out the way you want it to. But you don’t yell, you don’t complain. You don’t claim the election was stolen… You don’t make excuses.”
President Donald Trump stands with Representative Julia Letlow during the Congressional Ball in the White House Grand Foyer on December 11, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Letlow, who also has the support of Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry, a top Trump aide, won his congressional seat in 2021 after her husband, Luke Letlow, died six days after being sworn into the U.S. House following his 2020 election victory, the seat he now holds. He has highlighted his support for Trump during his Senate campaign.
Fleming, who spent eight years in Congress before serving as White House deputy chief of staff during Trump’s first term, has argued that he is the most conservative candidate in the GOP Senate primary.
Democracy ’26: Stay updated with Fox News Election Hub
The GOP candidate will be seen as the clear frontrunner in the midterm elections against farmer Jamie Davis or Navy veteran Gary Crockett, who are facing off in the Democratic Senate runoffs.
The brute force of the president’s endorsement power has been on display in GOP primaries over the past two months, with his candidates ousting incumbents in Indiana, Kentucky and Texas as well as his targets in the Louisiana primary.
But Trump’s streak of support in statewide and congressional Republican primaries was broken a few weeks ago, when his last-minute endorsement of Republican Rep. Randy Feenstra of Iowa in the race to succeed retiring GOP Gov. Kim Reynolds was not enough to propel the three-term congressman to victory.
Feenstra was narrowly edged out by Zach Lahn, a businessman, farmer and former political strategist, who was backed by the political wing of MHA — the acronym for the Make America Healthy Again movement coined by Trump’s health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — and Turning Point USA, the powerful conservative organization co-founded by the late Charlie Kirk.
Zach Lahn raises his fist in celebration after defeating his primary opponent in Iowa’s GOP governor’s race on Tuesday, June 2, 2026. (Zach Lahn for Governor via Facebook)
The president rebounded in South Carolina three weeks ago, as Trump-backed Lieutenant Governor Pam Evett finished first in the GOP gubernatorial primary and longtime Trump ally Senator Lindsey Graham won a majority of the vote in the Republican Senate primary, avoiding a runoff.
Graham, who was endorsed by Trump, was facing primary challenges from five candidates, including conservative businessman Mark Lynch, who took aim at the senator over his support for war in Iran. Lynch had the support of some MAGA leaders who have been critical of the president.
Two weeks ago, Trump supported candidates won two out of three In the top races in Georgia and Alabama, a blow struck a billionaire businessman who spent more than $100 million of his own money to promote his campaign.
Representative Barry Moore, a House Freedom Caucus member and longtime Trump supporter who was endorsed by the president, easily defeated opponent Jared Hudson, a former Navy SEAL sniper who was endorsed by some of the top names on the right, in Alabama’s GOP Senate runoff.
In the battleground state of Georgia’s Republican Senate runoffs, an 11th-hour endorsement by Trump helped Rep. Mike Collins, a MAGA champion, win over former college football coach Derek Dooley, who had the backing of popular conservative Governor Brian Kemp.
Trump endorsement fails to save sought-after candidate as billionaire moves ahead in key governor’s race
Collins will face a Democratic senator. Jon Ossoff The general election is set to be a race between a handful of people that will decide whether the GOP keeps its slim majority in the House in the midterms.
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But in Georgia’s GOP gubernatorial runoff, candidate Trump-backed Lt. Gov. Bert Jones, who was also endorsed by Kemp last weekend, lost to billionaire businessman Rick Jackson, who was running as an outsider.
On Tuesday, Trump-backed first-time candidate Anthony Constantino, a businessman and former boxer, defeated retired Marine Corps colonel and New York Assemblyman Robert Smullen in the New York race to replace retiring GOP Rep. Elise Stefanik, who was backed by the state party.
Meanwhile, in South Carolina’s Republican gubernatorial runoff, Trump could not lose.
This is because, in addition to endorsing Evett, he also gave a last-minute endorsement to state Attorney General Alan Wilson, who ultimately won in a landslide.
