Does President Trump’s endorsement of Julia Letlow make her the favorite to win the U.S. Senate Republican Primary over incumbent Bill Cassidy? Advocate newspaper columnist Tyler Bridges says this will be Letlow’s first tough political race.
“Julia Letlow has never run a tough campaign. She’s not run statewide. She’s untested, and she hasn’t raised the money yet,” Bridges said.
Letlow was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in a 2021 special election to replace her husband Luke, who died of COVID-19 complications before he took office. She easily won re-election in 2022 and 2024.
Quin Hillyer, a conservative columnist for the Advocate, says Letlow will not only face attacks from Cassidy, but also from two of the other major candidates in the race – John Fleming and Blake Miguez.
“Fleming and Miguez both have raised a lot of money, both of them are very aggressive, and now they are going to be incentivized to really bring their guns to bear against Julia Letlow,” Hillyer said.
The closed party primary is May 16th, with the runoff scheduled for June 27th. Following Trump’s endorsement of Letlow, Cassidy said endorsements will not decide the race; instead, the voters will select the candidate with the best record. Bridges says it will be interesting to see if Cassidy’s strategy will work.
“He’s banking on a strategy of saying, ‘I’ve done this and this and this for you. I brought billions of dollars for the state for new roads and bridges and infrastructure. I’ve done all sorts of things that show that I am the best candidate to stay in the Senate,"” Bridges explained.
Bridges and Hillyer were guests on Talk Louisiana, hosted by Jim Engster on WRKF.