Trump-backed challenger defeats Republican senator who voted to convict president

A Trump-backed challenger has defeated a two-term Republican senator who voted to convict the president at his 2021 impeachment trial.Congresswoman Julia Letlow will advance to a runoff next month, ousting incumbent Bill Cassidy, who President Donald Trump branded a "disloyal disaster" ahead of Louisiana's high-stakes contest on Saturday.State treasurer John Fleming, another Trump-aligned candidate, also advanced to the Republican runoff for Louisiana's Senate seat.The top two candidates, Letlow and Fleming, will face off again in late June as neither won a simple majority. The candidate who wins the runoff will then run against a Democratic candidate in the general election.Cassidy, 68, was one of seven Senate Republicans who voted to convict Trump when the president was impeached after the 6 January attack on the Capitol in 2021. Trump was acquitted after the Senate voted 57-43, short of the two-thirds majority required. Of the seven Republicans who voted to convict him, only three still serve in the Senate: Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, who survived a primary challenge in 2022; Susan Collins of Maine; and Bill Cassidy.Fleming previously was a representative for Louisiana in Congress and also worked in the first Trump administration. Letlow, 45, is the first Republican woman elected to represent Louisiana in Congress. She won a special election for Louisiana's 5th Congressional District in 2021 after her husband, a newly elected representative, died in 2020 from complications related to COVID-19 before his swearing in.