A conservative lawmaker cautioned that President Donald Trump's political attacks on Republicans who have challenged him could tank GOP candidates in midterm elections this fall.
Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE), who has opted not to seek re-election in 2026 and will retire at the end of his term in 2027, described his thoughts about Sen. Bill Cassidy's (R-LA) loss to a Trump-endorsed challenger in the primary race during a conversation with CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer on Monday.
"The president has a lot of leverage in the primaries," Bacon said. "There's no doubt he did come after me in 2022. I was able to prevail. But for the most part, the president has had a tremendous success in the primaries. The problem is it doesn't translate one for one anyway. In the general election right now, I saw polling today where he's at 37% and the generic polling showing the Democrats are up about 11 points. That is a recipe for a very hard November for my party."
He warned that Republicans could face backlash over Trump's revenge campaign, citing how Cassidy had voted to convict Trump during one of his impeachment hearings in the president's first administration over the Jan. 6 attacks on the U.S. Capitol. That led to Trump endorsing a challenger, Julia Letlow, who will now face off against John Fleming, Louisiana's state treasurer and a former Trump administration official, in the runoff election on June 27, according to The Associated Press.
"And what I think most voters want is they like a lot of the president's policies, but they don't want a rubber stamp," Bacon said.
Bacon said that Americans want to see checks and balances under the Constitution.
"And rightnow they're not really seeingthat checks and balance," Bacon said. "They'reseeing sort of a 'yes man'mentality. And I think that willhurt us. You know, Sen. Cassidy, Ihave a lot of respect for. Ihated to see him lose. I alsoknow Julia Letlow. I thinkshe's a great congressman [SIC] from Louisiana. But I do thinkthe president wants blindloyalty in Congress from Republicans. He's not the onlypresident to have demanded thisin the past, but I don't thinkit works for him in the longrun. Some independent thinkingand feedback would make himstronger. And I believe if Congress would step in more ontariffs and on Ukraine, ourfavorables would be much higher."