JUNE 28, 2026
Julia Letlow wins Louisiana GOP Senate runoff, becoming Republican nominee for Bill Cassidy's seat
Rep. Julia Letlow won the Louisiana Republican Senate runoff on Saturday, defeating state Treasurer John Fleming to capture the GOP nomination for the seat held by Sen. Bill Cassidy, who lost his primary last month. Letlow, who was endorsed by President Trump and Gov. Jeff Landry, will enter the general election as the heavy favorite in a solidly red state. Cassidy, who voted to convict Trump in his second impeachment trial, was denied a third term in the earlier primary.
Rep. Julia Letlow defeated former Congressman and state Treasurer John Fleming in Louisiana's Republican Senate runoff on Saturday, securing the GOP nomination for the seat being vacated by Sen. Bill Cassidy. With nearly all votes counted, Letlow finished approximately 14 points ahead of Fleming. She will face Democrat Jamie Davis, a farmer who won the Democratic runoff the same evening, in November's general election.
Letlow's path to the nomination was notable for its context. She won a special election to the House in 2021 to fill the seat of her husband, Luke Letlow, who died five days before being sworn into Congress following his 2020 election victory. She entered the Senate race in January after Trump publicly encouraged her candidacy and endorsed her. In the May primary, Letlow finished first by a wide margin but fell short of the 50 percent threshold needed to avoid a runoff. Cassidy finished third with less than 25 percent of the vote and became the first elected Republican senator to lose renomination since Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana in 2012, according to Fox News.
Fleming, a founder of the House Freedom Caucus and former White House deputy chief of staff during Trump's first term, argued throughout the campaign that he represented the ideological roots of the MAGA movement and characterized Letlow as an establishment pick backed by elected officials rather than grassroots conservatives. Despite gaining ground since his second-place finish in the May primary, he fell short. "Yes I love the heat of battle. I love the combat," Fleming said in his concession speech. "But it makes us stronger."