WASHINGTON, D.C. — An intra-party battle is brewing among Louisiana Republicans ahead of the 2026 U.S. Senate race. The first skirmish is over tickets to the Washington Mardi Gras ball.
State Rep. Roger Wilder, Republican of Denham Springs, said his tickets to the ball were revoked after he privately expressed support for State Sen. Blake Miguez, Republican of Lafayette, who plans to challenge the U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy in the 2026 election.
Wilder said he had already arrived in Washington for the event when he received an email from a member of Cassidy’s congressional staff informing him that he would receive a refund for his tickets.
“I think it’s petty,” Wilder said in an interview. “This is supposed to be an event celebrating Louisiana, and now we have a distraction.”
In an interview at the Washington Hilton, where the annual week-long political party is held, Cassidy denied revoking the tickets. As a senator from Louisiana, Cassidy is directly involved in planning Washington’s Mardi Gras festivities. The Mystick Krewe of Louisianans, which organizes the event, is currently celebrating its 75th anniversary.
Cassidy, a moderate Republican, angered conservatives in his party after voted to convict President Donald Trump during his impeachment trial in 2021 for his involvement in the attempted January 6 insurrection. He faces a primary challenge from state Treasurer John Fleming, and Miguez said he is seriously considering entering the race.
“(Wilder) will be the first to have premium seats (at the ball) in 2027,” Miguez said when asked about the ticket dispute, implying that he would replace Cassidy and thus be involved in planning for Washington’s Mardi Gras.
Despite backlash from the ultra-conservative wing of the party, Cassidy did significant fundraising before the race. Campaign finance records show this with more than $6 million available.
What is different from the 2026 elections is the introduction of closed-door primaries.
Gov. Jeff Landry has backed legislation in 2024 to end Louisiana’s relatively unusual open “jungle” primaries, in which all candidates face each other in an initial election and the top two finishers receive votes — assuming that no candidate obtains more than 50% of the votes. — carry out a runoff the following month.
Louisiana’s new closed primaries apply to seats in Congress and the Louisiana Supreme Court, the Civil Service Commission, and the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education. They will take place in March of each election year, and voters from each party with a majority will advance to elections in the fall. If no candidate receives more than 50% of the vote in March, a second party primary is held with the top two candidates.
In states with closed primary systems, voters tend to be more polarized than in general elections, meaning a conservative challenger might have a better chance of unseating their more moderate intra-party rival.
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