(The Illuminator) State Rep. Julie Emerson of Carencro announced Monday she will challenge incumbent U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy, adding an interesting element to the state’s first Republican party primary in 50 years.
“I’m running for the United States Senate because Louisiana deserves a senator who can lead, deliver, and help rebuild America’s confidence,” Emerson said in a statement from her campaign. “For the first time in years, the future feels brighter than the past.”
In a polished 4-minute online video, Emerson, 37, declared her intention to join a crowded GOP field, touting her 10 years of experience in the legislature. As chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, she authored the extensive state tax overhaul Gov. Jeff Landry sought and lawmakers approved last year. It included the adoption of a flat individual and corporate income tax, and the state sales tax was increased to 5% and expanded to cover more items.
Emerson also championed Landry’s effort to expand the use of public dollars for private school vouchers, though the LA GATOR program has not been funded to the extent the governor wishes.
She also led the move to end the open “jungle” primaries that Louisiana has used since 1975, putting her in the party primary field with announced candidates state Treasurer John Fleming, state Sen. Blake Miguez of New Iberia, Public Service Commissioner Eric Skrmetta, and St. Tammany Parish Council member Kathy Seiden.
Each one hopes to capture the conservative Louisiana electorate that propelled Landry to an outright primary win in the 2023 governor’s race, and all are attacking Cassidy’s vulnerability for voting to impeach President Donald Trump over the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Meanwhile, Cassidy had amassed more than $10.6 million for his reelection campaign as of Sept. 30, along with a string of endorsements from local Republican elected leaders and notable Louisiana GOP donors. He’s also attempted to repair his image with Trump supporters, including actively promoting the president for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Emerson’s campaign launch video includes direct appeals to Trump voters, using footage of the July 2024 assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, to illustrate what she called the symbolic beginning of a “seismic shift” in American politics.
Trump, who has started to make endorsements ahead of the 2026 congressional midterms, has yet to throw his support behind anyone in the Louisiana race for U.S. Senate.
Fleming, who was a member of Congress when he endorsed Trump in 2016, has touted his role in the first Trump administration as part of its health and commerce department leadership.
Landry has also yet to make an endorsement in the contest, though it’s unlikely he will back Miguez, who openly criticized the governor’s tax plan last year.
Emerson has frequently appeared with the governor to celebrate his legislative wins. In 2015, she became the youngest Republican woman ever elected to the Louisiana Legislature at age 27. She represents a district that includes parts of Lafayette and St. Landry parishes.
Her involvement in Republican politics began while she attended the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, where she received a Bachelor of Science. Emerson went on to earn an MBA from the University of South Carolina and formed her own communications and public relations group in 2011.
U.S. Rep Clay Higgins credits Emerson as one of his key advisers in his successful run for Congress in 2016.
