2026年5月16日 / 美国东部时间早上6:00 / 哥伦比亚广播公司新闻
华盛顿讯 路易斯安那州选民周六将举行该州联邦参议员初选，现任参议员比尔·卡西迪正为保住自己的席位奋力一搏。
多名共和党候选人周六将在竞争激烈的初选中角逐共和党提名，曾偶尔与本党唱反调的卡西迪正寻求连任参议员，完成第三个任期。
现年68岁的卡西迪是2021年国会山骚乱后，在特朗普弹劾审判中投下定罪票的七名共和党参议员之一。尽管近年来他强调与本届政府的合作，特朗普还是在今年1月背书了众议员朱莉娅·莱特洛，鼓励她挑战卡西迪争夺该席位。
现年45岁的莱特洛是2021年当选的首位代表路易斯安那州进入国会的共和党女性，她在丈夫2020年因新冠并发症去世后，通过特别选举拿下路易斯安那州第五国会选区席位，其丈夫原定于上任前离世。她抨击卡西迪对共和党不忠，称路易斯安那州“不该在关键时刻还要纠结我们的参议员会投出怎样的票”。
除了投票弹劾特朗普，卡西迪还与本届政府在卫生与公众服务部部长小罗伯特·F·肯尼迪的领导问题上存在分歧，尽管去年他投下了关键一票推动肯尼迪的提名获批。作为一名医生，卡西迪曾多次与这位HHS部长意见相左，其中包括抨击针对婴儿的乙肝疫苗接种计划调整，并呼吁推迟关键疫苗咨询委员会的会议。
尽管莱特洛指责卡西迪不够保守，卡西迪也回击称这位获特朗普背书的对手同样不够保守，并指出她在2020年曾支持教育领域的多元化、公平与包容（DEI）项目。两人之间的争执似乎为另一位共和党候选人创造了机会——州财政部长约翰·弗莱明，他曾代表路易斯安那州担任众议员，并在首届特朗普政府中任职。
如果没有候选人获得简单多数票，得票前两名的候选人将在6月27日进行决选。埃默森学院4月的一项民调显示，这种情况很可能出现。
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这场竞选将被视为检验特朗普总统影响力的试金石。本月早些时候，特朗普推动共和党人退出印第安纳州州参议院的策略大获成功，这些议员曾反对他的重划选区计划。而在路易斯安那州能否复制这一结果还有待观察。
与此同时，参议院共和党竞选机构全国共和党参议员委员会已经表态支持卡西迪。参议院多数党领袖约翰·图恩周四对记者表示：“比尔·卡西迪一直是路易斯安那州一位出色的参议员。”
“我和蒂姆·斯科特在全国共和党参议员委员会的工作就是尽我们所能支持现任议员，”图恩说道。
“但显然，最终将由路易斯安那州的选民做出决定。”
民主党方面，前州长约翰·贝尔·爱德华兹政策顾问尼克·阿尔瓦雷斯、海军退伍军人加里·克罗克特以及第三代农场主杰米·戴维斯将角逐本党提名。但路易斯安那州是坚定的红色州，特朗普在2024年大选中拿下了该州60%的选票。该州上一次选出民主党参议员还是在2008年，这意味着共和党初选的获胜者很可能在11月的大选中轻松当选联邦参议员。
路易斯安那州共和党州长杰夫·兰德里本月早些时候因最高法院裁决推翻该州国会选区划分方案，暂停了该州众议院初选，而包括参议员初选在内的其他选举仍按计划进行。
GOP Sen. Bill Cassidy fights to hold onto seat in Louisiana primary against Trump-backed challenger
May 16, 2026 / 6:00 AM EDT / CBS News
Washington — Louisianans are voting Saturday in the state’s Senate primaries as Sen. Bill Cassidy fights to hold onto his seat.
A handful of Republicans are facing off Saturday in a competitive primary to win the GOP nomination as Cassidy — a Republican who has occasionally broken with his party — seeks a third term in the Senate.
Cassidy, 68, was one of seven Senate Republicans who voted to convict Mr. Trump in his impeachment trial after the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol in 2021. And although he’s emphasized his cooperation with the administration in recent years, the president endorsed Rep. Julia Letlow in January, encouraging her to challenge Cassidy for the seat.
Letlow, 45, became the first Republican woman elected to represent Louisiana in Congress in 2021 after winning a special election for Louisiana’s 5th Congressional District following the death of her husband, who died in 2020 from complications related to COVID-19 before he could be sworn into office. She’s hammered Cassidy as disloyal to the GOP, claiming Louisiana “shouldn’t have to wonder how our senator will vote when the pressure’s on.”
In addition to his vote to impeach Mr. Trump, Cassidy has been at odds with the administration over Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s leadership, despite delivering the key vote to advance Kennedy’s nomination last year. Cassidy, a medical doctor, has broken with the HHS secretary on multiple occasions, including slamming a change to the hepatitis B vaccine schedule for infants and calling for the postponement of key vaccine advisory panel meetings.
While Letlow has accused Cassidy of not being sufficiently conservative, Cassidy has claimed the same about his Trump-backed opponent, pointing to comments she made in 2020 supporting DEI programs in education. And the feuding between the two candidates has appeared to create an opportunity for another Republican — state Treasurer John Fleming, who previously represented Louisiana in the House and worked in the first Trump administration.
If no candidate receives a simple majority, the top two vote-getters will go to a runoff on June 27. An Emerson College poll from April indicates that the outcome is likely.
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The contest will likely be viewed as a test of the president’s influence. Earlier this month, Mr. Trump’s gambit to push Republicans out of the state Senate in Indiana who defied his redistricting efforts was largely successful. Whether the same is true in Louisiana remains to be seen.
Meanwhile, the Senate Republicans’ campaign arm, the National Republican Senatorial Committee, has supported Cassidy. Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters Thursday that “Bill Cassidy has been a terrific senator for Louisiana.”
“Tim Scott and I at the NRSC, our job is to do what we can to support incumbents,” Thune said.
“But obviously the voters of Louisiana are going to make that decision.”
On the Democratic side, Nick Albares, a former policy advisor to Gov. John Bel Edwards, Navy veteran Gary Crockett and third-generation farmer Jamie Davis are facing off for their party’s nomination. But Louisiana is a solidly red state, where Mr. Trump won 60% of the vote in 2024. And the state last elected a Democrat to the Senate in 2008, making the winner of the GOP primary likely to face a glidepath to the Senate in November’s general election.
Louisiana’s Republican Gov. Jeff Landry suspended the state’s House primaries in the wake of the Supreme Court decision to strike down the state’s congressional map earlier this month, while other races, including the Senate primaries, were set to go on as planned.
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