U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow defeated state Treasurer John Fleming in Louisiana's Republican Senate runoff on Saturday, clinching the nomination to replace Sen. Bill Cassidy, the man who sealed his own political fate by voting to convict Donald Trump during the 2021 impeachment trial. Letlow now enters the general election as the heavy favorite in a state Trump carried by 22 points in 2024.
The Washington Examiner reported Letlow won with 56.9 percent of the vote to Fleming's 43.1 percent, with 99 percent of expected ballots counted. If she prevails in November, she will become Louisiana's first female Republican senator.
The result caps a disciplined campaign that leaned hard on a Trump endorsement issued in January, before Letlow had even formally declared her candidacy. It also marks the latest chapter in Trump's broader effort to replace Republican incumbents and candidates who broke with him, a pattern that has already reshaped Senate races from Texas to Indiana.
The seat opened up because Cassidy made himself a target. His vote to convict Trump on impeachment charges in 2021 put him on a short list of GOP senators who crossed the president. Trump responded the way he has across the map: he backed a challenger.
Cassidy spent roughly a year trying to keep Trump from coming after him, as the Associated Press reported. It didn't work. In the May 16 primary, Cassidy finished third with approximately 25 percent of the vote, knocked out of his own race behind both Letlow and Fleming.
Letlow led the May 16 field with nearly 45 percent. Fleming trailed at roughly 28 percent. Neither cleared a majority, triggering the runoff that Letlow won decisively.
The outcome mirrors what happened in Texas, where Ken Paxton routed Sen. John Cornyn by 27 points in a GOP Senate runoff after earning Trump's endorsement. Cornyn, like Cassidy, discovered that crossing the president carries a steep cost in a Republican primary.
Letlow's path to the Senate began with tragedy. Her husband, Luke Letlow, was elected to Congress in 2020 but died from COVID-19 complications before he could take office. Julia Letlow won a special election to fill his seat in 2021 and has served in the House since.
A former college administrator, Letlow brought both a personal narrative and institutional backing to the Senate race. Gov. Jeff Landry began advocating on her behalf to Trump last year. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise endorsed her. And a super PAC supporting her campaign spent $4.1 million in the six weeks after the May 16 primary, according to ad-tracking firm AdImpact, leading all advertising spending in the race.
By comparison, both Letlow's campaign and Fleming's campaign spent roughly $1 million each on advertising during that same stretch. The financial gap was wide, and it showed.
At her election night watch party in Baton Rouge, Letlow thanked the president in terms that left no ambiguity about where she stands:
"I am so filled with gratitude for the greatest president this country has every had, Donald J. Trump."
She also thanked Gov. Landry, her late husband, and introduced her fiancé, Baton Rouge lobbyist Kevin Ainsworth. The pair became engaged at the White House in December.
John Fleming was no fringe candidate. A founder of the conservative House Freedom Caucus during his time in Congress, he later served in Trump's first administration. He directed his campaign appeals squarely at MAGA voters and claimed his voting record was more conservative than Letlow's.
But Fleming lacked the one thing that mattered most in a Louisiana Republican primary: Trump's endorsement. He alleged that White House allies of Gov. Landry blocked him from reaching the president directly. At a June campaign stop, Fleming recounted eventually getting through to Trump by phone.
"I said nobody has been more loyal to you than me."
Fleming said Trump replied: "You're fantastic! Why didn't you call?" But the endorsement never came his way.
Fleming staked much of his campaign on opposition to carbon capture and sequestration, pointing to federal subsidies for the technology. He also ran ads highlighting a 2020 episode in which Letlow, then interviewing for the presidency of the University of Louisiana-Monroe, publicly supported diversity, equity, and inclusion, a position now at odds with Trump's effort to eliminate DEI policy across the federal government.
The DEI line of attack escalated when Fleming reposted an AI-generated video on X this month that purported to show Letlow saying she supported DEI because she "didn't know any better." The fabricated video also referenced her late husband. Letlow condemned the sharing of the video as "disgraceful and indefensible."
Fleming said he did not create the video "but it's getting passed around Louisiana for a reason." The tactic did not appear to move the needle. Letlow said she opposed DEI this year, and voters sided with her.
After the Associated Press called the race, Fleming conceded gracefully. Just The News reported on the broader significance of the win for Trump's 2026 election efforts.
"The contest for this primary is over, and now it's on to the general election. And we want to continue to make America strong by sending the best of the best there."
Letlow's victory gave Trump a clean win in Louisiana, but his endorsement record in 2026 primaries has not been perfect. Last month, Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Sen. John Cornyn of Texas both lost reelection bids to Trump-endorsed GOP challengers. Five Indiana state senators also fell to Trump-backed opponents.
Yet Trump's endorsement has also met resistance. On June 2, Trump-backed Rep. Randy Feenstra lost the Iowa GOP gubernatorial primary to businessperson Zach Lahn. On June 16, Trump-backed Lt. Gov. Burt Jones lost the Georgia GOP gubernatorial primary to billionaire Rick Jackson. Both Lahn and Jackson ran as outsiders against establishment favorites, a dynamic that has complicated Trump's broader effort to consolidate Republican loyalty.
In Louisiana, however, the formula held. Trump endorsed early, the money followed, and the candidate delivered.
Letlow will face Democrat Jamie Davis, a northeast Louisiana crop farmer who won his party's primary over Navy veteran and business executive Gary Crockett. In a state Trump carried by 22 points, Davis faces long odds.
The Washington Times noted that the race represented a key test of Trump's ability to reshape the Senate with loyal allies. Letlow passed that test. She told supporters Saturday night that Louisiana has "a chance to send a clear message that Louisiana stands with President Trump."
One voter in Marrero captured the dynamic plainly. Barbara Dufrene, 67, told reporters she knew little about Letlow but voted for her anyway. As Breitbart reported, Dufrene said she was counting on Trump to lower her healthcare costs and strengthen her safety net.
"Trump's lady all the way. I always vote whatever Trump wants."
Letlow spoke with Fleming by phone after the race was called and thanked him publicly. She then turned her focus forward. The AP reported Trump congratulated Letlow, calling her someone who "will be a truly GREAT Senator."
The broader pattern is hard to miss. Cassidy voted against Trump and lost his seat. Letlow ran with Trump and won it. The behind-the-scenes battles over party funding and institutional support that defined the Louisiana race all pointed in one direction: in today's Republican Party, the endorsement from Mar-a-Lago is the most valuable currency there is.
Cassidy can tell you what happens when you bet against it.
