President Trump called Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) a "sleazebag" and "disloyal disaster" on the day of Louisiana's Senate primary, according to The Hill. Said Trump on Truth Social: "Bill Cassidy is a sleazebag, a terrible guy, who is BAD FOR LOUISIANA. Now he's going to get CLOBBERED."
Sen. Bill Cassidy sits in third place in the Republican primary for his Louisiana Senate seat, behind a Trump-backed challenger, according to Politico. The two-term incumbent has faced sustained political pressure since casting one of seven Republican votes to convict Donald Trump in the 2021 impeachment trial.
Louisiana voters went to the polls for a primary that includes a U.S. Senate race, several statewide contests, constitutional amendments, and local races in New Orleans and surrounding parishes, according to Bloomberg Government. Said Bloomberg Government congressional reporter Victoria Knight on Bloomberg This Weekend: the Senate contest is among the most closely watched races on the ballot.
Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) drew sharp criticism from fellow Democrats after appearing on Fox News and defending President Trump, according to The Hill. Said one unnamed Democratic critic, per the report: Fetterman, once touted as a working-class populist capable of winning over independents and Republicans, is now seen by some in his caucus as turning his back on the party ahead of the 2026 cycle.
Sen. Bill Cassidy faces his first Louisiana voters since his 2021 vote to convict Donald Trump, running against Trump-endorsed Rep. Julia Letlow, former Rep. John Fleming, and businessman Mark Spencer in Saturday's Republican primary, according to Roll Call. Said Trump of Cassidy on Truth Social: "a very disloyal person" — a rebuke tied to Cassidy's role, as HELP Committee chair, in blocking surgeon general nominee Casey Means; a super PAC supporting Cassidy has spent more than $10 million on the race.
President Trump is backing a primary challenger against Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), threatening the career of the Senate HELP Committee chairman, according to The Hill. Cassidy, one of seven Republican senators who voted to convict Trump in his 2021 impeachment trial, has faced Trump's public ire since that vote.
Sen. Bill Cassidy is competing against multiple Republican challengers for a third-term bid while facing active opposition from President Trump, according to The New York Times. Cassidy voted to convict Trump in the 2021 Senate impeachment trial, making him one of seven Republican senators to do so.
Sen. Bill Cassidy faces his most difficult reelection race without backing from Louisiana's Republican leadership, a consequence in part of the state's new open-primary structure, according to The Hill.
Cassidy, who voted to convict Donald Trump in the 2021 Senate impeachment trial, has been censured by the Louisiana Republican Party and enters the primary without the state party apparatus behind him.
Vice President JD Vance traveled to Bangor, Maine, to promote the administration's anti-fraud efforts, campaign for former Gov. Paul LePage, and signal a conciliatory posture toward Sen. Susan Collins, according to Politico.
The visit marks a notable outreach effort to Collins, a Republican who has at times distanced herself from the administration.
The Senate confirmed Kevin Warsh as Federal Reserve chair in a mostly party-line vote, replacing Jerome Powell atop the world's most powerful central bank, according to NBC News. Powell plans to remain on the Fed's board after his chairmanship ends.
Multiple Republican senators are warning that a Trump administration request for tens of billions of dollars to fund the Iran war faces significant resistance in the upper chamber, according to The Hill. Said one unnamed GOP senator, as characterized by the outlet: patience is waning over what members describe as the absence of a clear plan to end the conflict.
The Nebraska Democratic Senate candidate plans to withdraw from the race to clear the path for independent Dan Osborn, according to RealClearPolitics. Osborn, a labor organizer who ran a competitive 2024 Senate race against incumbent Deb Fischer, has drawn national attention as a rare working-class independent capable of winning in a deep-red state.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said Iran has regained access to most of its missile sites and launchers and that its Revolutionary Guard, senior leadership, and enriched uranium stockpile remain in place, according to Bloomberg Politics. Said Blumenthal: "The threat is still there" — adding that the situation leaves President Trump in a "real dilemma" over the Strait of Hormuz.
Rep. Julia Letlow, endorsed by President Trump, and state Treasurer John Fleming are running against Sen. Bill Cassidy in Louisiana's 2026 Republican Senate primary, according to The Hill. Cassidy drew the primary challenges after voting to convict Trump in his second impeachment trial and clashing with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Sen. Bill Cassidy faces a primary contest on May 16 against Rep. Julia Letlow, endorsed by President Trump, and state treasurer John Fleming, with some polls showing Cassidy trailing both rivals, according to STAT News. Cassidy, 68, chairs the Senate committee overseeing health policy but has struggled to consolidate Republican support after casting a vote against Trump — a tension STAT sources describe as leaving him at odds with both the MAGA wing of his party and the health care establishment he once led.
Cindy Burbank won the Nebraska Democratic Senate primary and announced she intends to drop out of the general election, clearing the two-candidate field for independent Dan Osborn to face Republican incumbent Pete Ricketts, according to The New York Times. Osborn, running without a party nomination, would become the sole non-Republican challenger in the race.
Kevin Warsh's nomination to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors cleared an initial Senate procedural vote, the first in a series of votes planned this week to confirm him as Fed chair, according to Bloomberg Politics. Additional votes are scheduled before confirmation is complete.
Nebraska's Democratic Senate primary closes with one candidate accused of running as a covert Republican and a second Democrat announcing plans to withdraw in order to consolidate support behind an independent candidate, according to The New York Times. The maneuvering marks one of the more structurally unusual Senate primaries of the 2026 cycle.
Bill Kristol and Sarah Longwell, writing at The Bulwark, argue that Democrats are sitting on a bigger 2026 opening than the party's internal panic suggests — and that the Virginia redistricting shock is the clearest early proof of concept.
The core read: Trump's approval is sliding, tariff pain is landing at the kitchen table, and a favorable Senate map in 2026 is only useful if Democrats actually run like they want power back.
The strategic problem isn't the environment. The environment is good. The problem is a party that keeps acting like a 51-49 loss is baked in when the other side is dragging a damaged incumbent brand into a midterm cycle with gas prices moving in the wrong direction.
Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman published a Washington Post op-ed this week ruling out a party switch while making clear he intends to keep operating as a one-man dissent caucus inside the Democratic conference.
Said Fetterman: "My party cannot simply be the opposite of whatever President Donald Trump says. The president could come out for ice cream and lazy Sundays, and my party would suddenly hate them." He cited his votes to keep the government open in fall 2025 and against shutting down DHS in March and April as the specific breaks that drew protesters to his Braddock, Pennsylvania home.
The play here: Fetterman stays a Democrat, keeps the seat in the D column, but sets a template for 2026 candidates in competitive states — distance from base messaging on border and Israel without crossing the aisle. Whether that lane is viable or just lonely is the open question going into the midterms.
Maine's Senate race opened ad season this week with two campaigns broadcasting entirely different theories of 2026, per Bulwark's Sam Stein and Lauren Egan. Graham Platner's first spot is a hard-hitting populist frame that goes directly at Collins' record and ties her to Trump and the broader fight over who holds power. Collins countered with a nostalgic, locally-focused ad built around an infrastructure win from roughly a decade ago.
The strategic read: Platner is betting that defining Collins early — before she can re-establish her independent-brand armor — is the only path to winning. The offense-first move is classic challenger discipline. Collins' answer, leaning on a decade-old project, signals her team thinks the old Maine-specific goodwill still travels. That's a significant wager in a nationalized environment.
The open question is whether Collins' long-standing cross-party strength in Maine holds when the race gets nationalized around Trump. Platner's opening move is designed specifically to make sure it doesn't.
RealClearPolitics moved its Senate control forecast to toss-up territory — a structural shift from where the cycle opened, when Republicans were widely expected to hold and expand their majority.
A toss-up Senate map in May of a midterm cycle means recruitment, money, and message have all shifted. Nationalized environments favor the party out of the White House, and Trump's approval has been the ceiling for every Republican running in a contested state.
Democrats don't need a wave. They need six states to break right. That's a lower bar than 2022. The map is doing the work.
With Gov. Janet Mills out of Maine's 2026 Senate race, both Collins and Democratic challenger Graham Platner moved fast to define the contest on their own terms, per The Hill (May 7). The repositioning happened within days of Mills's exit reshaping the field.
Collins's first ad features Chris Gardner, executive director of the Eastport Port Authority, vouching for her constituent-service record — a deliberate choice. Eastport is remote, economically marginal, and the kind of place a senator highlights when the argument is 'I deliver for Maine, not for Washington.'
That's the Collins playbook in one image: incumbent competence, insulated from national Republican toxicity. Platner's counterprogramming will have to answer that frame directly, not just run against Trump. Mills's absence removes the strongest name-ID challenger; Collins is betting she can own the center before Platner builds his own.