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Two U.S. senators who have raised vaccine safety questions are among the favorites to take over leadership of the U.S. Senate’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee following Sen. Bill Cassidy’s (R-La.) loss in last weekend’s Louisiana Republican primary.
Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), both physicians, support the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) agenda championed by U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Leadership of the HELP Committee would afford either senator significant influence over federal health policy and the confirmation of nominees to fill top positions at public health agencies.
Cassidy, who finished third in Louisiana’s primary, opposed several of Kennedy’s key vaccine policies, despite voting to confirm Kennedy as health secretary last year.
How Cassidy’s loss could turn into an even bigger win for RFK Jr. https://t.co/cop5vZ2boS
— POLITICO (@politico) May 17, 2026
MAHA supporters, many of whom opposed Cassidy’s reelection bid, have been credited with contributing to his defeat.
“This is a good outcome,” said Michael Kane, director of advocacy for Children’s Health Defense. “Cassidy has been a very clear opponent to the MAHA agenda, although he gave lip service to it at times trying to appease Trump.”
Kim Witczak, a drug safety advocate and former U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) consumer representative, said Cassidy’s loss is significant because HELP “influences confirmation hearings, oversight investigations, legislation, hearings and broader public accountability around health policy.” She added:
“The tone and priorities of committee leadership can significantly shape which issues receive attention, which voices are heard and how aggressively agencies are questioned.
“Leadership that is open to examining institutional blind spots and real-world patient experiences could create more room for discussions around transparency, chronic disease, informed consent, drug safety and conflicts of interest.”
‘Cherry on top’ for RFK Jr.?
According to Politico, Paul or Marshall taking over leadership of the HELP committee would signify the “cherry on top” for Kennedy and the MAHA movement.
Axios reported that Paul is the “next Republican in line for the position.” However, he may opt to remain in his current role as chair of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs.
In that role, Paul has been leading an investigation into the origins of COVID-19. Last week, he held a hearing with James E. Erdman III, a CIA whistleblower who alleged that Dr. Anthony Fauci and the CIA worked to cover up a possible lab leak from China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology.
It’s unknown how this investigation would be affected if Paul takes over leadership of the HELP Committee.
According to MedPageToday, Paul “has pushed back on government-mandated vaccines,” on the basis that they “infringe on personal rights.” He has also criticized former President Joe Biden’s preemptive pardon of Fauci last year.
Other names floated in media reports as possible successors to Cassidy at the helm of HELP include Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska).
Marshall ‘a big Kennedy fan’
Politico reported that Marshall “is a big Kennedy fan” who “has criticized vaccine mandates and supported nutrition-forward health reforms, including a focus on chronic disease prevention.”
Marshall called for “vaccine transparency” in light of deaths attributed to the COVID-19 shots, and, like Paul, supports the lab-leak theory of COVID-19’s origin.
In December 2024, Marshall founded the Senate MAHA Caucus. Last year, he praised Kennedy during his confirmation hearings, saying he had “never seen a person whose words, written and spoken, have been so misattributed, exaggerated, sensationalized, and taken out of context.”
According to Politico, three people “familiar with Marshall’s plans” said that he has been angling to take the helm of the HELP committee “for months.” One of the three sources told Politico that Marshall “is telling folks it’ll be him.”
Marshall told Bloomberg Government that leading the HELP committee would be “a great honor” and “something I prepared my whole life for.” Paul told Bloomberg Government that he hasn’t “thought about it at this point” and “will think about it over time.”
HELP Chair update from me & @ErinDurkin2:
Marshall: “It’d be a great honor. It’s something I prepared my whole life for,” though added he was still mourning Cassidy’s loss.
Paul: “Haven’t thought about it at this point. Will think about it over time.”https://t.co/KDaladKZlj
— Victoria Knight (@victoriaregisk) May 19, 2026
Witczak said Paul and Marshall’s apparent willingness “to question institutional assumptions and push for greater scrutiny of federal health agencies and public health decision-making” is “significant.”
“The larger issue should not be about personalities but whether HELP is willing to create space for broader conversations around transparency, informed consent, conflicts of interest, chronic disease, overmedicalization, drug safety, and the experiences of patients and families who have often felt ignored by the system,” Witczak said.
For now, Cassidy remains at the helm of HELP. His last day in the Senate is Jan. 3, 2027. Politico reported that Republican HELP committee members will vote by secret ballot to nominate a new chair. Seniority “typically wins out” but is “not a given.” The Senate Republican conference must then approve the nominee.
MAHA movement ‘at the center’ of Cassidy’s defeat
Cassidy’s primary loss was widely attributed to his clash with Trump, including his 2021 vote to convict Trump in his impeachment trial. Some media sources cited Trump’s endorsement of Cassidy’s opponent, Rep. Julia Letlow, as an example of “revenge” against his political opponents.
But according to Sayer Ji, chairman of the Global Wellness Forum and founder of GreenMedInfo, Trump’s quest for “revenge” against Cassidy is only part of the story.
“This is not the ‘Trump retribution’ story,” Ji wrote in a Substack post on Sunday. “This is a policy story about the composition of a Senate committee that directly shapes American health governance. And MAHA is at the center of it.”
Ji said MAHA played a key role in Cassidy’s defeat.
“MAHA was not acting as Trump’s instrument. It was acting on its own political logic — the logic of a movement that watches who chairs one-sided hearings against the official they sent to Washington to reform captured health agencies, and responds accordingly,” Ji wrote.
Witczak said Cassidy’s loss reflects “a larger cultural and institutional shift happening around health policy, chronic disease, public trust and transparency.”
“Many Americans are increasingly questioning healthcare institutions, regulatory agencies, pharmaceutical influence and how risks and benefits are communicated to the public. Those concerns extend far beyond partisan politics,” Witczak said.
Roll Call reported that Cassidy “faced the challenge of maintaining his personal ideals as a physician when they [ran] counter to some MAHA goals while embracing other parts of Trump’s health agenda.”
Cassidy ‘completely ill-informed about the safety and efficacy of vaccines’
Cassidy’s opposition to Kennedy’s policies surfaced several times over the past year:
- In June 2025, Cassidy said a scheduled meeting of the federal Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), which provides recommendations on vaccine policy, “should not proceed,” after Kennedy named a slate of new members to the committee, several of whom had questioned vaccine safety.
- Following a December 2025 presentation questioning the safety of childhood vaccines, Cassidy said ACIP “is totally discredited.”
- In September 2025, Cassidy split with Kennedy and the Trump administration’s advisory that pregnant women not use Tylenol due to a potential autism risk for babies.
- That month, Cassidy held a hearing to evaluate changes at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) under Kennedy’s watch. Two ousted CDC officials were invited to testify, but not Kennedy.
- In January, Cassidy criticized Kennedy’s reduction of the number of diseases covered by the recommended childhood immunization schedule from 17 to 11, saying the change will “make America sicker.” A federal court has since paused that change.
- Last month, Cassidy again clashed with Kennedy at a Senate hearing, saying that public trust in vaccines “has worsened over the last year due to false statements.”
“Cassidy was completely ill-informed about the safety and efficacy of vaccines and asserted egregious restrictions on Kennedy as conditions to his confirmation as health secretary,” said Zen Honeycutt, founding executive director of Moms Across America. “It’s no wonder he lost his seat.”
Politico: MAHA PAC pledged to spend $1 million to oust Cassidy
Ji, who attended the September 2025 Senate hearing, wrote that Cassidy’s actions at the hearing galvanized the MAHA base.
“What I observed was a man who believed he was executing a plan that was already working. He was wrong,” Ji wrote. “Within 24 hours, 80,000 constituent contacts — emails and calls — flooded congressional offices in response.”
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Ji told The Defender. “That was the movement speaking. MAHA PAC [political action committee] showed up in Louisiana on Saturday and finished the sentence.”
According to Politico, “The Kennedy-aligned MAHA PAC pledged to spend $1 million” to oust Cassidy and support Letlow.
Some health and medical freedom advocates pointed to Cassidy’s significant ties to — and funding from — Big Pharma and vaccine makers as a factor in his defeat.
“Cassidy’s antics on behalf of Big Pharma were brazen and brutal,” said Jeffrey Tucker, president and founder of the Brownstone Institute. “In effect, he imagined himself to be a medical hegemon for the whole country, an implausible positioning.”
Politico reported that Cassidy “brushed off a question about MAHA’s role” in the campaign to unseat him. “If you’re talking about ‘Making America Healthy Again,’ my gosh, I’ve worked to make my state healthy again. And so if people are concerned about our state being healthier, then I’m your candidate,” he said.
Cassidy cannot run for reelection with another party or as an independent candidate due to Louisiana’s “sore loser” law. The law bars candidates who have been defeated in one party’s primary to run as independent or as nominees for another party in the general election for that same seat.
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Cassidy’s defeat may give the MAHA agenda ‘a needed reboot’
Axios reported that Cassidy may seek to further derail the MAHA agenda during his remaining term, as he “could complicate … efforts to fill top positions” at the FDA, CDC and for the vacant surgeon general position.
Ji noted that Cassidy has already helped block several of the administration’s nominees to key public health leadership posts, creating “an impasse.”
Last month, Trump publicly blamed Cassidy for blocking the nomination of Casey Means, a holistic medicine doctor and MAHA supporter, as surgeon general.
After Cassidy departs, though, the situation may change. Highlighting Marshall’s support of the MAHA agenda and his previous bipartisan work to advance health legislation, Roll Call suggested that he could “perhaps clear the path for future Trump nominees.”
“Many Americans are increasingly aware of the revolving door between regulators and industry. A committee chair willing to seriously examine those concerns could help restore some public trust by signaling that these issues are being openly discussed rather than dismissed,” Witczak said.
“The MAHA agenda may get a needed reboot if this were to happen,” Kane said.
Related articles in The Defender
- RFK Jr. Clashes With Lawmakers Over Measles, COVID and Chronic Disease
- Is Upcoming Senate Hearing a Ploy by Pharma, Big Media to Get RFK Jr. Fired?
- Sen. Cassidy Calls for Delay of Vaccine Advisers Meeting, Criticizes RFK Jr.’s New Appointees
- Trump’s New Pick for Surgeon General Opposed COVID Vaccine Mandates, Especially for Kids
- Vaccine Injury Lawyer Delivers Scathing Rebuke of Childhood Vaccine Schedule — Offit, Hotez Decline Invitation to Debate
- RFK Jr. Wins Crucial Vote, Moves One Step Closer to Top HHS Post
