BATON ROUGE — Sen. Bill Cassidy challenged opponent Rep. Julia Letlow to a trio of televised debates ahead of the May 16 Republican primary. 

Both are competing to represent Louisiana in the U.S. Senate, along with fellow candidate Louisiana Treasurer John Fleming, who was not included in Cassidy's debate challenge. 

"My experience and seniority matters when it comes to getting results, something Congresswoman Letlow simply doesn’t have. But let’s have that conversation with Louisiana voters,” Cassidy said in a statement Friday.

Cassidy's campaign team said it is working with media outlets to organize the three debates: KTBS in Shreveport, Louisiana Public Broadcasting in Baton Rouge and Nexstar's stations around the state.

The Advocate reports that Letlow will not attend the LPB debate, citing a House session expected that day.

According to The Advocate, Fleming agreed to appear on the LPB and KTBS debates, but has no information on the other event. He also accused Cassidy of trying to edge him out of the picture and turn the election into a two-person race. 

Letlow recently received endorsements from President Donald Trump and Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry.