Former Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) on Sunday described Sen. Bill Cassidy’s (R-La.) defeat in the Louisiana Republican primary on Saturday as a “loss for the country.”
Cassidy lost the race in Louisiana’s newly closed primary system following years of disagreement with President Trump after Cassidy voted to convict him for the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack.
“The Senate to now lose an exceptionally brilliant and creative mind, an MD who chairs healthcare, and a person of character,” Romney said on the social platform X, referring to Cassidy’s degree as a medical doctor. “Bill Cassidy’s departure is a loss for the country.”
Trump-endorsed Rep. Julia Letlow (R-La.) and Louisiana Treasurer John Fleming (R) were the top vote-getters Saturday, edging out Cassidy in his toughest race since first winning in 2014. Neither Fleming nor Letlow scored at least half the vote to avoid a June 27 runoff.
“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 find a reason why you lost,” Cassidy said late Saturday to supporters.
“You don’t manufacture some excuse. 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.”
Romney, a regular critic of the president, was the only Republican senator to vote to convict Trump during both of his impeachment proceedings.
“President Trump also violated his oath of office by failing to protect the Capitol, the Vice President, and others in the Capitol,” Romney said in 2021. “Each and every one of these conclusions compels me to support conviction.”
Trump had gone after Cassidy for years following the impeachment vote. Cassidy was one of the seven Republican members to convict Trump, and one of the three remaining in the Senate.
Trump also blamed Cassidy, the chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, for blocking the nomination of his surgeon general pick, Casey Means, which drew condemnation from Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and followers of his Make America Healthy Again movement.
“His disloyalty to the man who got him elected is now a part of a legend, and it’s nice to see that his political career is OVER!” Trump posted to Truth Social on Saturday.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) also weighed in on Cassidy’s loss, taking a turn away from Romney’s sentiment and saying on Sunday that there was “no room” in the GOP to “destroy” Trump’s agenda.
“There’s no room in this party to destroy his agenda or to destroy him and his family as a Republican. Democrats do it all the time,” Graham said during an appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
“If you align with Democrats to stop his agenda like Massie does, you’re going to lose. If you align with Democrats to drive him out of office, like Cassidy did, you’re going to lose,” he added.
