BATON ROUGE, La.—U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow (R-La.) won Louisiana’s Republican nomination for U.S. Senate on Saturday, delivering another win for President Donald Trump.
Letlow, who was endorsed by Trump before she entered the race in January, defeated state Treasurer John Fleming in a runoff after the two finished ahead of Sen. Bill Cassidy in the GOP primary May 16.
Letlow has promised to work in lockstep with Trump to advance his agenda.
Letlow’s victory caps Trump’s primary efforts to unseat Republicans he is unhappy with. Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie, Texas Sen. John Cornyn and five Indiana state senators all lost reelection bids last month to challengers he backed.
However Trump-backed candidates lost in two June GOP gubernatorial primaries: Rep. Randy Feenstra on June 2 in Iowa, to businessperson Zach Lahn; and Lt. Gov. Burt Jones of Georgia on June 16, to billionaire Rick Jackson. Both winners were outsiders competing with establishment favorites.
By winning Saturday, Letlow is the immediate favorite to succeed Cassidy in a state Trump carried in 2024 by 22 percentage points. Letlow also would become Louisiana’s first female Republican senator if elected.
Letlow, a former college administrator, has been in the House since 2021. Her husband, Luke Letlow, died from COVID-19 complications after being elected to Congress in 2020, and she won a special election to fill the seat.
She finished first in last month's voting with nearly 45 percent, compared with about 28 percent for Fleming and nearly 25 percent for Cassidy.
“We have a chance to send a clear message that Louisiana stands with President Trump,” Letlow said Thursday in an online rally with the president. “He endorsed me because he knows I will stand with him.”
In the Democratic primary, Jamie Davis, a northeast Louisiana crop farmer, defeated Gary Crockett, a Navy veteran and business executive. Both promoted addressing the cost of living and protecting social safety nets.