Pelican State News

WASHINGTON – In a recent article, The Federal Times highlighted the leadership of U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA) in continuing the good-humored Congressional tradition of National Seersucker Day. This marks the 10th year that Cassidy has led National Seersucker Day since reviving the tradition in 2014 while in the U.S. House of Representatives. Cassidy will host National Seersucker Day on June 8, 2023, alongside his colleague Senator Feinstein (D-CA). 

“Sen. Bill Cassidy knows a thing or two about the persistent southern heat. You would, too, if you grew up in on the banks of the Mississippi in Louisiana’s lower half…

“Cassidy, who’s also a doctor, told Federal Times in an interview. ‘We jack up the air conditioning. We rush to turn on the air conditioning in the car. Why don’t we just dress for the climate, drink cold drinks instead of hot coffee, and otherwise adapt?’

“That’s the logic behind the annual Seersucker Day in Congress, a tradition led by Sen. Cassidy and Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California that sees Hill staff, lawmakers and others coordinate one day in June to wear seersucker — a lightweight, tightly woven cotton fabric that is striped, usually in pastels, and slightly puckered to give off a gathered, somewhat wrinkly look. On the day, it’s customary for lawmakers in various offices, Republican and Democrat, southerner and, yes, northerners too, to snap a photo wearing suits, jackets, ties and skirts in a dizzying, optical illusion-like sea of stripes.

“‘You wear seersucker, and people describe it as feeling like pajamas,’ Cassidy said. ‘It’s a classy pajama, if you will. And you’re in sync with the weather of the summer, as opposed to complaining about the weather this summer…

“‘I kind of like it because it’s just an interesting way to dress. If I wore a blue sports coat every day, 365, my God, just put me in a coffin,’ Cassidy joked.”

Read the full article here.

Background

Seersucker suits were popularized by a New Orleans businessman in the early 1900s. Former U.S. Senator Trent Lott (R-MS) brought Seersucker Thursday to Congress in 1996. After the tradition went unobserved in 2012 and 2013, Dr. Cassidy revived National Seersucker Day in the U.S. House of Representatives in 2014 and has continued the tradition in the Senate with the help of Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA). This marks the 10th year that Cassidy has led National Seersucker Day since he revived the tradition in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Original source can be found here.