Senator Bill Cassidy is struggling with the loyalty of the GOP in the hearing RFK JR.

Red stick, la. (Ap) – Sen. Bill Cassidy has become a central figure in the confirmation of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.whose appointment to the Secretary of Health and Social Services poses an equally consecutive moment for the Republican of the second mandate faced with an uncertain political future in Louisiana.

A doctor who has become a politician, Cassidy Questions about Kennedy’s past claims Connect the vaccines common to autism, a position that the gastroenterologist rejects and has repeatedly sought to convince the candidate to give up during a committee audience on Thursday.

However, republicans and voters at home in State President Donald Trump continued to put Pressing on Cassidy, who is re -elected in 2026, to vote yes.

Already in disagreement with a segment of his party to vote to condemn Trump during his dismissal in 2021, Cassidy admitted his own desire Thursday to see Trump succeed in his second mandate as president. His interrogation from Kennedy lived in a living way the conflict between Cassidy’s medical opinions and his desire to be an ally for the president and his supporters.

In the end, Cassidy ceased to say if he will vote to approve the appointment of Kennedy, although the hearing has offered clues.

“You could hear my news during the weekend,” said Cassidy.

Who hears Cassidy?

There was no ambiguity of the Republicans of Louisiana in their advice in Cassidy.

Eminent party members, including the organizational leader of the GOP of the State, the vocal conservatives and a main potential challenger, clearly indicated in their public signals for Cassidy that he would flout the will of the party if he would oppose the Candidate of a candidate who carried Louisiana thus of Louisiana thus easily.

The general surgeon Ralph Abraham, the Republican President of the State Derek Babcock and a conservative coalition of the House of Representatives of Louisiana which adopted the title of his Congress counterpart, The Freedom Caucus, all wrote to Cassidy the exhortant To vote to confirm Kennedy.

The letter from Republican Governor Jeff Landry may have sent the clearest signal to Cassidy. In a letter to Cassidy, his former colleague from the Chamber and Trump long -standing devotee recalled the appearance of Kennedy to Baton Rouge, and noting that “Kennedy turned out to be an asset for the State while we sail on federal government edicts ”.

Republican state representative Raymond Crews said that Cassidy’s position among the Republicans of Louisiana was on his vote on Kennedy.

A vote against Kennedy “would not correspond to the country, and this does not correspond in particular to the state of Louisiana,” said Crews.

What is Kennedy’s position among the Louisiana republican base?

Cassidy recognized Thursday in its opening to the committee what the Republicans of Louisiana noticed: Kennedy has a suite in Louisiana.

“My phone explodes with people who really follow you,” said Cassidy, noting the calls he gets his exhortant to vote to confirm. “And there are many who trust you more than they trust their own doctor.”

It is, in part, because of Kennedy’s appearance before a hearing of the Louisiana legislative committee in 2021 in Baton Rouge, when he joined the opposition to Gov at the time. Proposal from John Bel Edwards to add COVID-19 vaccinations to the list of photos required for students from the Louisiana public school.

During the invitation of the attorney general of Louisiana at the time, Jeff Landry, Kennedy was hailed during the visit of Baton Rouge by the opponents of the Democratic Governor’s proposal, many of them are part of groups of parents organized.

The appearance showed Kennedy to the measure of the adversaries of Edwards, who was defeated in the legislature under the control of the Republican, said the representative of Louisiana, Julie Emerson, member of the health and well-being committee of the room at the time.

“He is a bit of a folk hero in Louisiana because of this,” said Emerson.

How does the audience affect Cassidy’s political future?

Cassidy is already unpopular with a republican segment of Louisiana for having voted in January 2021 to condemn Trump after his second dismissal from The attack of January 6, 2021 by Trump supporters on the American Capitol. Cassidy’s vote came just after taking the second term.

He drew a main challenger in the treasurer of the State John Fleming, and others plan to participate in the race against him. Louisiana adopted a closed primary electoral system last year, abandoning the “primary of the jungle”, which would have given Cassidy a more fluid path.

Before, all the candidates for the Senate – Republicans, Democrats and third -party candidates – ran in the same open primary, where all registered voters could vote. If a candidate did not obtain 50% in this vote, the first two would face a runoff. This system favored better known candidates with an inter-party call. The new primary would attract registered Republicans and the freelance of the GOP.

Trump, who grants a bonus on loyalty to him, has long been disturbed by Cassidy for his accusation vote, say the Republican initiates of Louisiana, of which few see a scenario where Trump approves him. The best possible result for Cassidy could be, even if he votes to confirm Kennedy, so that Trump approves anyone.

However, a vote against Kennedy would be out of step for Cassidy within the party of his state, said the Senator of the Blake Meconz State, a main potential challenger of Cassidy.

“We should not play old DC games intended to hinder the Trump agenda,” he told the Associated Press.

How did Cassidy manage Kennedy’s hearing?

Cassidy approached the audience with obvious heads to its competing allegiances, as a doctor and elected representative of a state where Trump won 60% of the votes.

“I want President Trump to succeed,” he said by opening up the hearing on the Senate Committee for Health, Education, Labor and the Pension he chairs.

However, Cassidy sought to arouse Kennedy – visible, even politely – a commitment to retract declarations connecting vaccines for measles and hepatitis B to autism, a link that was widely demystified by medical researchers.

Twice during the hearing, Cassidy recalled that his 18 -year -old patient suffered from acute hepatic insufficiency which needed emergency transplant surgery, which would load it with medical invoices for the rest of his life . “Fifty dollars of vaccine could have prevented all of this,” said the liver disease specialist.

“Your past knowing confidence in vaccines with unfounded or deceptive arguments concerns me,” he said.

At the start, Kennedy seemed to be conciliatory: “If you show me data, I will be the first person to assure the American people that they must take these vaccines.”

Disstablished, Cassidy said he was worried “that you have never known yourself about everything that could contradict what you said before.”

Then Cassidy took another crack, this time conceding under Kennedy’s terms to see the data first. “If the data has been given to you, and these studies have been there for some time,” he said, “you say,” I see that. It resisted the time test. ‘? “”

Offered this warning, Kennedy was happy to force.

“Not only will I do this,” he said, “I will apologize for all the declarations that have misleaded people differently.”

Did Cassidy turned his hand rocking?

Questioned by journalists in the days preceding the hearings, Cassidy said: “I still work. I look forward to the hearings and I will allow this to guide my decision. »»

By suggesting Thursday in Kennedy at the end of the hearing he could reach Kennedy this weekend, Cassidy seemed to suggest that his concerns had not been appeased.

Repeating in his closing remarks of his desire to succeed in Trump, Cassidy returned to Kennedy’s response that he promoted the vaccines he had criticized as long as someone has demonstrated his security.

Cassidy said he and Kennedy agreed that families wanted necessary, safe and effective vaccines.

“But we addressed it differently,” he said with an euphemism.

“I think I can say that I approached it using the preponderance of evidence,” he said. “And you approached it using selective evidence to launch doubt.”

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Beaumont reported to monks, Iowa.