Rep. Julia Letlow has President Donald Trump’s backing to challenge Sen. Bill Cassidy in the Republican primary for Senate in Louisiana.
Letlow formally jumped in the race Tuesday, a few days after Trump preemptively endorsed her to run for the seat in a January 17 post on Truth Social. He called her a “Great Star” and a “TOTAL WINNER,” writing “RUN, JULIA, RUN!!!”
Letlow was first elected to Congress in a 2021 special election to replace her husband, Luke Letlow, who was elected to the seat in 2020 but died of COVID-19 before he could take office. Letlow, a former teacher, highlighted her role as a mother to two children and her support for Trump in her announcement video.
“In a state as conservative as ours, we shouldn’t have to wonder how our senator will vote when the pressure’s on,” she said. “Louisiana deserves conservative champions — leaders who will not flinch.”
Cassidy, a gastroenterologist, has served in the U.S. Senate since 2015. In 2021, he was one of just seven Republican senators to vote to convict Trump in his impeachment trial for inciting the January 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
Cassidy leads the Senate committee overseeing health care and voted to confirm Robert F. Kennedy as secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) in Trump’s second term despite his concerns over Kennedy’s anti-vaccine stances.
Cassidy has since criticized Kennedy and HHS’s decisions on vaccine policy. Last summer, Kenedy fired all previously serving members of a vaccine advisory panel, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), and appointed eight new members. The panel has since voted to end the recommendation that newborns receive the hepatitis B vaccine, a move Cassidy called “a mistake.”
(Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)
“Congresswoman Letlow called me this morning to say she was running,” Cassidy posted on X on Tuesday. “She said she respected me and that I had done a good job. I will continue to do a good job when I win re-election. I am a conservative who wakes up every morning thinking about how to make Louisiana and the United States a better place to live.”
Letlow joins a crowded field of Republicans running for the seat, including Louisiana state Treasurer John Fleming, Public Service Commissioner Eric Skrmetta, state Sen. Blake Miguez and state Rep. Julie Emerson. Democrats running for the seat include farmer and former state House candidate Jamie Davis and Jabarie Walker, who served as chief of staff for the New Orleans Housing Authority.
The primary for U.S. Senate in Louisiana will be held May 16. If no one candidate earns over a majority of the vote, the top two will advance to a June 27 runoff. The Republican candidate is overwhelmingly favored to win the general election in Louisiana, which Trump carried by 22 points in the 2024 presidential election.
Republicans control the Senate by a three-seat majority, 53 to 47, and senators serve six-year terms, meaning a third of the Senate is up every election cycle. For Democrats to win back the chamber in 2026, they’d need to hold on to every seat they have, including competitive ones in Georgia and Michigan. They also would have to flip four GOP-held seats — targets include Maine, North Carolina and even more Republican-leaning states such as Ohio, Iowa, Nebraska and Texas.
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