U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow declared Monday morning she will enter this year’s U.S. Senate race, following a social media endorsement over the weekend from President Donald Trump.
Letlow, a 44-year-old Republican who has represented Louisiana’s 5th Congressional District since 2021, announced her candidacy against incumbent U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy at a Baton Rouge Business Report breakfast event. Cassidy has been considered a vulnerable Republican since he voted to impeach Trump for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Trump had stayed silent on the U.S. Senate race in Louisiana until Saturday night when he urged Letlow to run in a post to Truth Social.
“I know Julia well, have seen her tested at the highest and most difficult levels, and she is a TOTAL WINNER!” Trump wrote, I part. “A Proud Mother of two children, Julia is a wonderful person, has ALWAYS delivered for Louisiana, and would continue doing so in the United States Senate.”
Before being elected to Congress, Letlow was a high-ranking administrator at the University of Louisiana at Monroe. Her political ascension began when she entered a special election to fill the 5th District vacancy left when her husband, Luke Letlow, died from complications of COVID-19 just days before he was to be sworn into office. She has since won re-election twice and holds a seat on the powerful U.S. House Appropriations Committee.
When the state legislature redrew its congressional boundaries in 2024, preserving Letlow’s seat was declared a priority among Republican leaders, who sacrificed the 6th District seat of Garret Graves, R-Baton Rouge, to create a second majority-Black district for Louisiana in the U.S. House. Portions of Graves’ old district around LSU were drawn into Letlow’s 5th District boundaries.
Letlow moved her family to Baton Rouge last year and was engaged last month to lawyer and lobbyist Kevin Ainsworth, a former baseball player at LSU.
In a statement Saturday night after the president’s endorsement of Letlow, Cassidy indicated he would remain in the race and held firm Monday morning, according to a statement.
“Congresswoman Letlow called me this morning to say she was running. She said she respected me and that I had done a good job,” Cassidy said. “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.”
Despite his impeachment vote five years ago, Cassidy has positioned himself as a Trump loyalist. He cast the deciding vote to make Robert F. Kennedy Jr. secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, despite openly disagreeing with Kennedy’s stances on vaccines and the causes of autism.
Though he was unable to gain Trump’s backing, Cassidy has amassed a substantial campaign war chest approaching $20 million when including political action committees. He has also received endorsements from several Louisiana sheriffs, parish presidents and notable GOP donors.
According to Cassidy’s campaign, he raised more than $650,000 at a Baton Rouge event where U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-South Dakota, was the headliner.
The timing of Letlow’s announcement gives her a key opportunity to court campaign donors at the 77th Washington Mardi Gras, set for Jan. 28-Feb. 1 in the nation’s capital. The event typically includes several fundraisers for Louisiana candidates at all levels, as well as parties hosted by corporate interests and political organizations.
Louisiana will hold closed party primaries for its congressional elections this year, forcing Cassidy and Letlow into a May election with other prominent GOP candidates: state Rep. Julie Emerson, Louisiana Treasurer John Fleming, state Sen. Blake Miguez, and Public Service Commissioner Eric Skrmetta.
No notable Democratic candidates have declared their intent to challenge Cassidy, but a party representative with its 2026 Senate Campaign Committee said in a statement she considered Letlow’s entry a sign of dysfunction in the Republican Party as it fights retain its majority in the chamber.
“Republicans’ Senate headaches just got even worse as they face another nasty primary with a Trump-endorsed candidate against a sitting Senator,” spokeswoman Maeve Coyle said. “This is the latest in a string of problems for national Republicans as they grapple with infighting and a toxic agenda that has put their Senate majority at risk. As Republicans continue to sabotage each other, Democrats are in a strong position to win in 2026.”
Official qualifying for the May 16 party primaries takes place Feb. 11-13.
This is a developing story.
