The state’s senior Senator, Republican Bill Cassidy, was sworn in for a second six-year term Sunday.
Cassidy cruised to reelection with 59 percent of the vote on the November ballot. UL Lafayette Political Science Professor Pearson Cross said his reelection efforts just get easier from here.
“Once you get elected you are most likely to get knocked off in that first reelection campaign,” said Cross. “Cassidy may be a fixture in Louisiana and national politics for a number of years.”
Cassidy’s next closest competitor was Shreveport Mayor and Democrat Adrian Perkins, who only snagged 19 percent.
The Baton Rouge native is not joining an effort by dozens of Congressional Republicans, including fellow Louisiana Senator John Kennedy, in opposing the Presidential Election certification. Cross said that’s because Cassidy’s M.O. has never been hyper-partisanship.
“He is a conservative but his membership in the pragmatic coalition, so to speak, is probably just an outgrowth of who he is,” said Cross.
The former Earl K. Long Medical Center Doctor began his political career getting elected to the State Senate in 2006 as a Republican after spending most of his life previously as a Democrat. In 2008 he was elected to the US House before unseating incumbent US Senator Mary Landrieu in 2014.
Cassidy’s most recent legislative achievement came as part of a bipartisan coalition that crafted the recent COVID relief bill. Cross said the Senator is positioned to be quite influential.
“His importance in the Senate the longer he stays there and plays that role will continue to rise, so he could be a crucial dealmaker in the Senate in the next decade to come,” said Cassidy.
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