Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), who voted to convict President Trump after his 2021 impeachment trial, will face at least one primary challenger. Louisiana Treasurer John Fleming announced Wednesday that he will run for the seat held by the two-term Republican senator. “A number of Republicans walked away from President Trump in the last year of his first term,” Fleming said, according to NBC News. “But those who turned their backs on him and America First were not committed to his fight to make America great. Louisiana citizens did not give up on this fight,” he added. Louisiana Treasurer John Fleming says he will run for the seat held by two-term Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy, citing Cassidy’s vote to convict Donald Trump after his 2021 impeachment trial. https://t.co/kycW6gOkKx — NBC News (@NBCNews) December 5, 2024 Per NBC News: Cassidy campaign spokesman Joe Ramallo said in a statement: “I thought he wanted to be State Treasurer? John Fleming wants to get out of Louisiana. He publicly said he wanted a job in the Trump administration, and apparently they didn’t want him. So after less than a year as State Treasurer, he’s looking for another job to return to Washington.” Cassidy has not yet formally announced that he is running for re-election, but he told the Shreveport Times last month that he is “obviously working hard toward 2026.” Cassidy was one of three Senate Republicans who voted to convict Trump in the aftermath of the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol who are still serving in the chamber, along with Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski and Maine’s Susan Collins, who is also up for re-election in 2026. After the House voted to impeach Trump, the Senate acquitted him. Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy draws primary challenge from former Hill colleague https://t.co/LfQWPFkBBX pic.twitter.com/kkN3JbHh9e — Roll Call (@rollcall) December 5, 2024 Louisiana state treasurer declares he’ll challenge Bill Cassidy for Senate https://t.co/ki0Tk5FfQy — The Hill (@thehill) December 4, 2024 From Roll Call: Cassidy was one of seven Republican senators who voted to find Trump guilty of inciting the January 6 riot at the Capitol – a vote that could represent the senator’s biggest hurdle to winning a third term in two years time. And unlike previous years, Louisiana will be holding partisan primaries for congressional races in 2026, a potential further obstacle for Cassidy. Cassidy’s campaign has sought to project strength as he gears up or reelection, releasing a list of his campaign’s Finance Committee members last month and noting that he’s set to kick off the cycle with the most cash on hand for any incumbent Louisiana senator – he had $5.9 million banked as of September 30, according to his third-quarter federal filings. Fleming, a staunch conservative who helped found the House Freedom Caucus, ran for Louisiana’s other Senate seat in 2016 but finished fifth in the jungle primary, in the election eventually won by Republican John Kennedy, now the state’s junior senator. Asked Wednesday night at the Capitol about Fleming’s challenge, Cassidy said: “He’s been trying to get out of Louisiana, and so this is his latest attempt.”