Who will get Trump's endorsement in Louisiana's U.S. Senate race? It could be decisive.

quote:

---

U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy and his three Republican challengers will begin drawing sharp distinctions among themselves at some point in the upcoming Senate primary. But in the meantime, they are all competing for the endorsement of President Donald Trump.

No one can say for certain whether Trump will favor one candidate or when he might do so. But everyone agrees that any endorsement from him will pack a punch.

This has prompted the four Republican candidates to tout their MAGA credentials at every opportunity.

State Treasurer John Fleming said he worked in the White House during Donald Trump’s first term as president, 10 steps from the Oval Office.

Public Service Commissioner Eric Skrmetta said he chaired each of the Trump campaigns in Louisiana.

State Sen. Blake Miguez styles himself as an America First Conservative who will be a reliable Trump ally.

Cassidy, who formally announced his reelection campaign Friday in an event at Drago's in Metarie, notes he supported Trump’s cabinet nominees, provided a decisive vote for the president’s One Big Beautiful Bill and works directly with Trump.

“I’m the only one who actually speaks to the president,” he said during a news conference Wednesday.

Trump is casting a looming shadow over a race in which the candidates in January will qualify for the April semi-closed primary.

“All the Republican candidates are trying to be the Trump candidate in the Senate,” said John Breaux, the former Democratic senator. “But only one can be that candidate. It’s a different world now.”

---

quote:

---

Speculation is rife that Trump won’t back Cassidy because he committed the cardinal sin of being one of seven Republican senators who joined all Democrats in voting in 2021 to prohibit Trump from holding office again under an impeachment article that accused him of “inciting violence against the government of the United States” with the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

---

quote:

---

Cassidy has faced criticism that he is bending his principles to try to get back in Trump’s good graces. Trump endorsed Cassidy when he won a second term in 2020.

Cassidy seems to be doing everything he can to at least get Trump not to endorse one of his challengers. With Fleming, Skrmetta and Miguez already in the race, U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow, R-Baton Rouge, is seriously considering joining them, according to Republican political insiders

On Wednesday, Cassidy brandished his MAGA qualifications, telling reporters that he played a key role in getting three cabinet members confirmed — Pete Hegseth at the Defense Department, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at the Health Department and Lori Chavez-Deremer at the Labor Department.

Cassidy also noted that he stood directly behind Trump when the president last week signed the senator’s bill that aims to reduce fentanyl abuse.

---

quote:

---

“We’re done being fooled by weak Republicans like Bill Cassidy who only support President Trump to get elected,” Miguez says on the website. “Bill Cassidy had his shot. He missed. I won’t.”

His comments play on Miguez being a world-class competitive sharpshooter.

---

quote:

---

Fleming said Trump is proving to be the most consequential president since Franklin D. Roosevelt, who served from 1933-1945.

“People really believe in him," Fleming said. "His base certainly does. He has tremendous impact. His word when it comes to endorsements is very powerful.”

---