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William Morgan Cassidy (born September 28, 1957) is an American politician and physician who is the senior United States senator from Louisiana, a seat he has held since 2015. A member of the Republican Party, he served in the Louisiana State Senate from 2006 to 2009 and in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2009 to 2015. Cassidy has chaired the Senate Health, Education, Labor, & Pensions (HELP) Committee since 2025.
Born in Highland Park, Illinois, Cassidy is a graduate of Louisiana State University (LSU) and LSU School of Medicine. A Gastroenterology, he was elected to the Louisiana State Senate from the 16th district which included parts of Baton Rouge, in 2006. In 2008, he was elected as the U.S. representative for Louisiana's 6th congressional district, defeating Democratic incumbent Don Cazayoux. Cassidy was elected to the Senate in 2014, defeating Democratic incumbent Mary Landrieu. He was reelected in 2020.
A moderate Republican, Cassidy is a critic of President Donald Trump. In 2021, he was one of seven Republican senators to vote to convict Trump of Sedition in his second impeachment trial. As a result, the Republican Party of Louisiana him. In 2023, after Trump was indicted for mishandling classified documents, Cassidy called for Trump to drop out of the 2024 presidential election. After Trump secured the Republican nomination, Cassidy declined to endorse him in the general election.
In 1998, Cassidy helped found the Greater Baton Rouge Community Clinic to provide uninsured residents of the greater Baton Rouge area with access to free health care. The Clinic provides low-income families with free dental, medical, mental health, and vision care through a "virtual" approach that partners needy patients with doctors who provide care free of charge.Anderson, Laurie Smith. "Program offers health care for adults without insurance." Baton Rouge Morning Advocate, May 24, 2002, Metro Edition, p. 1C.
Cassidy has also been involved in setting up the nonprofit Health Centers in Schools, which vaccinates children in the East Baton Rouge Parish School System against hepatitis B and flu.
In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Cassidy led a group of health care volunteers to convert an abandoned Kmart into an emergency health care facility, providing basic health care to hurricane victims.
In 2010, Cassidy's alma mater, Louisiana State University, selected him for honoris causa membership in Omicron Delta Kappa, the National Leadership Honor Society.
On December 9, 2006, Cassidy won a By-election for the District 16 seat in the Louisiana Senate. In his first bid for public office, he defeated veteran State Representative and fellow Republican William Daniel, and Libertarian candidate S.B. Zaitoon. The election was held to replace Jay Dardenne, who vacated the seat he had held since 1992 upon his election as Louisiana Secretary of State. Cassidy was sworn in on December 20, 2006. On October 20, 2007, he was reelected to a full four-year term in the Louisiana State Senate. Cassidy received 76% of the vote against Republican Troy "Rocco" Moreau (15%) and Libertarian Richard Fontanesi (9%).
In the 2010 midterm elections, Cassidy easily won a second term, defeating Democrat Merritt E. McDonald of Baton Rouge with 66% of the vote. In the 2012 election, Cassidy was reelected again defeating Rufus Holt Craig, Jr., a Libertarian, and Richard Torregano, an Independent. Cassidy received 79% of the vote.
In December 2010, Cassidy voted to extend the tax cuts enacted during the administration of President George W. Bush. He voted for the Constitutional Balanced Budget Amendment of 2011.
In May 2013, Cassidy introduced the Energy Consumers Relief Act of 2013 () to require the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to submit reports to both the United States Congress and the United States Department of Energy regarding proposed regulation that would have significant compliance costs (an impact of over $1 billion). The Department of Energy and Congress would then have the option of stopping or altering the EPA proposal.
In 2013, due to the American Medical Association's decision to officially recognize obesity as a disease, Senators and Representatives, including Cassidy, helped introduce legislation to lower health care costs and prevent chronic diseases by addressing America's growing obesity crisis. Cassidy said the Treat and Reduce Obesity Act could help empower physicians to use all methods and means to fight the condition.
In June 2013, Cassidy supported a House-passed bill that federally banned after 20 weeks of pregnancy. Also in 2013, Cassidy circulated a draft letter opposing an immigration reform bill, asking for signatures. Democratic Representative Mark Takano, a high school literature teacher for 23 years, marked it up in red pen like a school assignment and gave it an F, with comments like, "exaggeration -- avoid hyperbole," and "contradicts earlier statement."
In 2014 Cassidy co-sponsored an amendment to the Homeowner Flood Insurance Affordability Act in 2014 to limit annual premium increases for flood insurance, reinstate the flood insurance program's grandfathering provision, and eliminate a provision that required an increase to actuarial levels when a home is sold.
Cassidy was a vocal opponent of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (commonly called Obamacare or the Affordable Care Act), arguing that it would fail to lower costs and give too much decision-making authority to the federal government. In September 2014, the House passed the Employee Health Care Protection Act of 2013 (H.R. 3522; 113th Congress), sponsored by Cassidy, enabling Americans to keep health insurance policies that do not meet all of the Affordable Care Act's requirements. In March 2017, Cassidy sent a letter to one of his constituents that falsely asserted that Obamacare "allows a presidentially handpicked 'Health Choices Commissioner' to determine what coverage and treatments are available to you."
Cassidy supported the Lowering Gasoline Prices to Fuel an America That Works Act of 2014 (H.R. 4899; 113th Congress), a bill to revise existing laws regarding the development of oil and gas resources on the Outer Continental Shelf. The bill was intended to increase domestic energy production and lower gas prices. He argued that the bill "would allow us to take advantage of our natural resources and expands our energy manufacturing and construction industries."
He defeated incumbent Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu in a runoff election, receiving 56% of the vote to Landrieu's 44%. It was the first Republican victory for the seat since William P. Kellogg in 1883.
In September 2017, Cassidy and Lindsey Graham introduced legislation to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. The "Graham–Cassidy" bill would eliminate the ACA's marketplace subsidies, repeal the ACA's Medicaid expansion, and introduce a temporary block grant that would expire in 2026.Rachel Garfield, Larry Levit, Robin Rudowitz & Gary Claxton, State-by-State Estimates of Changes in Federal Spending on Health Care Under the Graham-Cassidy Bill, Kaiser Family Foundation (September 21, 2017). The legislation would also impose a per-enrollee cap on Medicaid funding. The Kaiser Family Foundation noted that the legislation "would fundamentally alter the current federal approach to financing health coverage for more than 80 million people who have coverage through the ACA (Medicaid expansion or marketplace) or through the traditional Medicaid program." An analysis by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities found that the legislation "would cut federal health care funding by $299 billion relative to current law" in the year 2027 alone and estimated that it would leave 32 million more Americans without health insurance.Edwin Parks & Matt Broaddus, Cassidy-Graham Plan's Damaging Cuts to Health Care Funding Would Grow Dramatically in 2027, Center for Budget and Policy Priorities (revised September 20, 2017). President Donald Trump endorsed the bill.Lauren Fox, The one major reason Graham-Cassidy could pass, CNN (September 21, 2017).
The bill does not meet the "Jimmy Kimmel test", as it would allow states to eliminate requirements to cover children with conditions like that of Kimmel's child. Kimmel condemned Cassidy, calling him a liar, listed the health organizations that opposed Graham–Cassidy, and urged his viewers to contact their congressional representatives about the legislation. Cassidy responded to Kimmel, saying that Kimmel "doesn't understand" the legislation. Cassidy also said that under Graham–Cassidy, "more people will have coverage" than under the Affordable Care Act. According to the Washington Post fact checker, Cassidy "provided little evidence to support his claim of more coverage... the consensus among is that his funding formula makes his claim all but impossible to achieve."
Cassidy was one of seven Republican senators to vote to convict Trump of Sedition in his second impeachment trial. Hours after the vote, the Republican Party of Louisiana censured him. Cassidy was praised by several Democrats, including his predecessor Mary Landrieu.
On May 27, 2021, along with five other Republicans and all Democrats, Cassidy voted to establish a bipartisan commission to investigate the January 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol. The vote fell short of the 60 required "yes" votes. Republican senators torpedo Jan. 6 commission, Roll Call, Chris Marquette, May 28, 2021. Retrieved May 29, 2021.
In 2023, after Trump was indicted for mishandling classified documents, Cassidy called for Trump to drop out of the 2024 presidential election. When Trump won the Republican nomination, Cassidy declined to endorse him.
In January 2024, Cassidy voted against a resolution proposed by Senator Bernie Sanders to apply the human rights provisions of the Foreign Assistance Act to U.S. aid to Israel's military. The proposal was defeated, 72 to 11.
In January 2019, Cassidy was one of 31 Republican senators to cosponsor the Constitutional Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act, a bill introduced by John Cornyn and Ted Cruz that would allow people with concealed-carry privileges in their home state to exercise this right in any other state with concealed-carry laws while concurrently abiding by that state's laws.
In May 2022, after the Robb Elementary School shooting, Cassidy reaffirmed his opposition to banning any kind of guns, including the AR-15. At the same time, during a live video discussion on youth mental health hosted by The Washington Post, he said he was "open to some discussions on ways to prevent shootings", such as red-flag laws and expanded . Cassidy later became one of ten Republican senators to support a bipartisan agreement on gun control, which included a red flag provision, a support for state crisis intervention orders, funding for school safety resources, stronger background checks for buyers under the age of 21, and penalties for straw purchases, and was one of 15 Republican senators to vote for the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which President Biden later signed.
On July 30, 2019, Cassidy and Senator Kyrsten Sinema released a proposal under which new parents would be authorized to advance their child tax credit benefits in order to receive a $5,000 cash benefit upon either birth or adoption of a child. The parents' child tax credit would then be reduced by $500 for each year of the following decade. The senators described their proposal as the first bipartisan paid parental leave plan.
Cassidy said he received "commitments" from Kennedy to meet with Cassidy several times a month, give advance notice to Congress if he imposes any changes to vaccine safety monitoring, and not to have the CDC remove from its website statements that vaccines do not cause autism. During the confirmation hearings, Kennedy also promised Cassidy that he would not change the U.S. vaccination schedule. But less than a week after taking office, Kennedy announced he would convene a panel to examine the vaccination schedule.
Under Kennedy, the CDC announced plans to investigate debunked claims of a link between autism and the measles vaccination. Cassidy called this a waste of money.
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