Washington ( CNN ) -- Rep. Bill Cassidy , the Republican congressman running for the U.S. Senate in Louisiana , is taking heat from the left and the right after he said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid `` runs the Senate like a plantation . '' Reid , asked Tuesday by reporters about the comment , demanded an apology . `` With all the things going on in America today , that 's fairly insensitive , '' Reid told reporters on Capitol Hill . `` That 's really insensitive . Very insensitive . If there was ever a statement that deserves an apology , this is it big time . Has he been taking lessons from Donald Sterling ? Where did he get this ? '' Cassidy made the comments during an interview with an energy trade publication . He was trying to make the point that it does n't matter whether Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu bucks her party on energy issues because Reid calls the shots . Landrieu has told voters she 'll stand up to her party and the president on energy issues . Senate Democrats ' campaign arm immediately tried to capitalize , firing off several emails to supporters about Cassidy 's comments . His challenger on the right , retired Air Force Col . Rob Maness jumped on his opponent 's remarks shortly after they appeared on Tuesday in Energy and Environment Daily . `` Congressman Cassidy may not realize this but the language he used included a term that is incredibly offensive to many Americans and he should immediately apologize , '' Maness said in a statement . `` It 's this type of over-the-top , out-of-bounds ignorance that drives so many people away from the Republican Party . We need to be better than that . '' Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee spokesman Justin Barasky piled on more criticism and called Cassidy 's comments `` incredibly offensive . '' `` Bill Cassidy 's assertion that the Senate is run like a plantation and that as a congressman he does n't want to be kicked around like a slave is incredibly offensive and he should apologize , '' Barasky said . But Cassidy showed no signs of apologizing and slammed that interpretation of his remarks as `` false controversy . '' `` I wish there was as much offense taken by Harry Reid running the Senate dictatorially , not allowing any votes which he does not personally approve of and the result of which he does not endorse , '' Cassidy said in a statement to the Washington Post . Cassidy , Maness and Landrieu will face off for the Louisiana Senate seat Nov. 4 in an open primary election . It should be noted that Cassidy is not the first , nor the most prominent , politician to use the plantation analogy to characterize congressional leadership . Then-Sen. Hillary Clinton charged Republican leaders in 2006 of running the House `` like a plantation '' during a speech in front of a largely black audience at a Harlem church . Like Cassidy , a Clinton spokesman also defended her remarks . And then Rep.-Newt Gingrich also called out Democrats with the same analogy in 1994 shorty before become House Speaker , saying Democrats `` think it 's their job to run the plantation '' and that he 's `` willing to lead the slave rebellion . '' But Cassidy 's tea party-backed challenger Maness is still calling for an apology . `` We all make mistakes and when we do , we should have the fortitude to own up to them , '' Maness said . 5 key races to watch for midterm elections .
Senate candidate Bill Cassidy criticizes Harry Reid for running `` the Senate like a plantation . '' The Washington Post reported that in an interview with CNN's Jake Tapper on Sunday, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said he was "sick and tired of Harry Reid."