Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy says that any questions raised by his opponents about his loyalty to President Donald Trump and his agenda are “ridiculous.”
In an interview with NOTUS, Cassidy, the chair of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, who held his first official reelection campaign event last week, said that these comments are much ado about nothing.
“It’s being said by people who don’t have anything else to campaign on. The president has eight Cabinet secretaries that he would not have if I had not voted for them and got them through. When the secretary of defense was [confirmed]… I was the 50th vote,” Cassidy said about Pete Hegseth.
Vice President JD Vance cast the tiebreaking vote on Hegseth’s nomination.
“[Trump’s] secretary of Labor, his secretary of [Health and Human Services], are other examples of going through my committee, or the committees on which I sat, and they got in there because I figured out how to get them in there,” Cassidy said, referring to his key support for Lori Chavez-DeRemer and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Cassidy, who was elected to the Senate in 2014, faces a difficult primary with several candidates pushing him on his right. Those candidates include John Fleming, Louisiana’s treasurer and a former congressman, and state Sen. Blake Miguez, who have tried to highlight instances when Cassidy has opposed the Trump agenda in a campaign ad and other comments.
Much of Cassidy’s tension with the MAGA base stems from his vote to convict Trump following the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, making him one of seven Republican senators to do so. He is one of only three of those Republicans remaining in the Senate, and the vote clearly had a political cost back home. The Republican Party of Louisiana censured Cassidy after that vote.
Cassidy seems to have turned a corner in his relationship with the president. He was praised by Trump at the White House during the signing ceremony of his “HALT Fentanyl Act,” which makes it easier for law enforcement to prosecute crimes related to the drug.
“If you want to talk about somebody who’s working effectively with the president to get an agenda passed which is good for the country, and, frankly, good for Louisiana, in which we are working together to get it done, I’ve been highly effective,” Cassidy said. “Those who say otherwise have nothing else to say, so they make things up.”
Cassidy has also voiced more recent concerns with the current Trump administration. Cassidy, a doctor, has taken issue with some of the positions and actions taken by Kennedy, including his decision in June to fire the members of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.
Just this week, Cassidy criticized Kennedy’s decision to terminate 22 grants used to support the production of new mRNA vaccines. In a social media post, Cassidy called the decision “unfortunate,” adding that Kennedy “canceled half a billion worth of work,” and that he “conceded to China an important technology needed to combat cancer and infectious disease.”
Asked by NOTUS how he’s navigating the fallout, Cassidy said he’ll “be in more communication” with Kennedy.
“I’ve not had a chance to call him today, but we’ve exchanged text messages pretty clearly,” Cassidy said Thursday. “I think I’ve made it clear that I agree with what the secretary is doing on things like over-processed foods. I think he deserves a lot of credit for that. But in this case, I think my tweet speaks for itself.”
Back home, Kennedy’s “Make America Healthy” agenda has gained traction among Louisiana Republicans.
Cassidy holds a fundraising advantage over other candidates currently in the race. He raised $1.6 million in the second quarter of 2025, and his campaign said the number increased to $2.1 million when including money from his “associated joint fundraising committees.” Cassidy had $8.7 million on hand at the end of the quarter.
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This story was produced as part of a partnership between NOTUS and Verite News.