Photo credit: The Office of Julia Letlow
By BallotWire
06/27/206
The Wire: Trump-endorsed U.S. Representative Julia Letlow won Louisiana's Republican U.S. Senate runoff Saturday, defeating state Treasurer John Fleming and finishing off the president's long campaign to unseat U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy.
Why it counts: Cassidy was one of seven Senate Republicans who voted to convict Trump in his 2021 impeachment trial. His elimination hands Trump another primary scalp and clears the way for a reliable ally in a seat Republicans are heavily favored to keep.
The margin: Letlow beat Fleming 57% to 43% for the nomination. Cassidy never reached the runoff, finishing third with about 25% in the May 16 primary behind Letlow's 45% and Fleming's 28%.
The fine print: Letlow made her Trump endorsement the centerpiece of her pitch, while Fleming, a former congressman, tried to out-MAGA her on the trail. The ideological daylight between them was thin, leaving Trump's backing as the deciding edge.
On the record: "Every breath I have left, I will be fighting for Louisiana," Letlow told supporters in Baton Rouge.
The counter: Cassidy, a two-term incumbent seeking a third term, argued his record was conservative enough to survive. Since losing, he has grown more willing to break with the White House.
The backdrop: Cassidy is one of two Trump-targeted Republican incumbents ousted this spring, alongside Texas U.S. Senator John Cornyn. Letlow's win also caps an unusual personal arc: she first came to Congress in a March 2021 special election after her husband, Luke, won a House seat in 2020 but died of COVID before taking office. She was the first Republican woman elected to Congress from Louisiana.
Looking ahead: Letlow faces Democratic nominee Jamie Davis, a northeast Louisiana farmer who won his party's runoff the same night, in the Nov. 3 general election. No Democrat has won a Louisiana Senate seat since 2008.