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U.S. Rep. Clay Higgins, R-La. (Courtesy of Higgins office)
U.S. Rep. Clay Higgins will not challenge the embattled U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy, a fellow Republican, for his Senate seat next year.
Higgins, an Acadiana-based congressman who has closely aligned himself with President Donald Trump, announced Thursday in a letter posted on X, the platform previously known as Twitter, that although his ability to beat Cassidy is “virtually assured,” he will be remaining in the House.
“It is my considered determination that, current engagement in the House being incredibly significant, it may be ultimately more beneficial to the Republic that I remain in service to the MAGA America First agenda as a senior Republican in the House of Representatives,” Higgins wrote.
Higgins continued that he believes a “MAGA America First Republican candidate will emerge” to take on Cassidy, who fell out of favor with conservative Republicans for his vote to convict Trump in his impeachment trial in 2021 over his involvement in the attempted insurrection at the U.S. Capitol following his electoral defeat.
Cassidy’s support for Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump’s anti-vaccine pick for Secretary of Health and Human Services, was widely seen as a concession to curry favor with Trump and his base. Cassidy is a medical doctor who has vocalized his disagreement with Kennedy’s anti-vaccine conspiracy theories.
Cassidy is already facing an announced challenge from Treasurer John Fleming, who previously worked in Trump’s first administration. Fleming ran unsuccessfully for Senate in 2016. Prior to that, he was a congressman representing the district currently held by U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson.
State Sen. Blake Miguez, R-New Iberia, is also seriously considering challenging Cassidy.
What’s different about the 2026 election is the introduction of closed primaries.
Gov. Jeff Landry supported legislation in 2024 to close Louisiana’s relatively unusual open “jungle” primaries, in which all candidates face each other in an initial election, and the top two vote-getters — assuming no candidate gets more than 50% of the vote — proceed to a runoff the following month.
Louisiana’s new closed primaries apply to seats in Congress and on the Louisiana Supreme Court, Public Service Commission, and Board of Elementary and Secondary Education. They will be held in March of each election year, with the majority vote-getter from each party advancing to a fall election. If no candidate receives more than 50% of the vote in March, a second party primary is held with the top two candidates.
In states with closed primaries systems, voters tend to be more polarized than in the general election, meaning a conservative challenger could have a better chance in unseating their more moderate intraparty rival.
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