Trump-backed Julia Letlow faces John Fleming in the Republican Senate runoff in Louisiana

BATON ROUGE, La. — President Donald Trump’s favorite candidate for U.S. Senate in Louisiana looks to clinch the Republican nomination Saturday and deliver another win for a president who has sought to replace Republicans who disagree with him with handpicked loyalists.

U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow, who was endorsed by Trump, and state Treasurer John Fleming are competing in the runoff. The two finished ahead of Sen. Bill Cassidy in the May 16 primary after Trump denounced the two-term senator, whom he voted to convict after his 2021 impeachment.

A Letlow victory would limit Trump’s primary efforts to unseat Republicans who were not on the same page with him. Kentucky Representative Thomas Massie, Texas Senator John Cornyn, and five Indiana senators lost their re-election bids last month to challengers they supported.

Letlow was elected to the House of Representatives in 2021 after her husband, Luke Letlow, won the same seat but died before taking office. She had Trump’s support before entering the primary race in January.

She finished first in the primary with about 45% of the vote, compared with about 28% for Fleming and about 25% for Cassidy.

“We have an opportunity to send a clear message that Louisiana stands with President Trump,” Letlow said Thursday at an online rally with the president. “He supported me because he knew I would stand with him.”

For some, Trump’s endorsement was all that mattered.

“Mrs. Trump all the way,” said Barbara Dufresne, 67, of Marrero. She added that she knew little about Letlow but was counting on the president to reduce health care costs and increase her social safety net. “I always vote for what Trump wants.”

Letlow has great advantages

Letlow’s success on May 16, campaign spending on her behalf and support from prominent Republicans stand her in good stead in the runoff. She has also been endorsed by Gov. Jeff Landry, who consulted with Trump last year about her Senate run, and U.S. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise.

Last month, Letlow won in parishes stretching from rural areas upstate to the New Orleans area in the southeast. It carried six of the 13 parishes that Fleming previously represented in the U.S. House of Representatives, including Caddo Parish, which includes Shreveport.

Read more: Live results: Louisiana primary runoff

Fleming, a co-founder of the conservative House Freedom Caucus while in Congress, later served in Trump’s first administration. He reminded voters that he did not resign after the attack by Trump supporters on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.

He has appealed to those who sympathize with the president’s “Make America Great Again” movement, saying his voting record is more conservative than Letlow’s. His campaign ads describe him as MAGA “long before it was cool.”

Fleming told voters he was denied access to Trump to gain the endorsement of Landry’s allies in the White House. Fleming says he finally got on the phone with Trump and reminded the president who he was.

“You said no one was more loyal to you than me,” Fleming recounted during a campaign stop in June. “He said, ‘You’re great! Why didn’t you call?’

Shane Jones, a 54-year-old military veteran, said he felt Fleming had clearer conservative principles than Letlow and could defend them when challenged.

“He came out with his policies, while Lettola didn’t,” Jones said. “If you can’t sit there and talk to me about the tough questions the audience is asking, well, you’re not even on my radar.”

Watch: Louisiana Sen. Cassidy’s primary challenge tests Trump’s grip on the Republican Party

Mary Patricia Ray, a political consultant in Louisiana who advises Republican and Democratic candidates, said she expects Fleming to perform well in rural areas, but Letlow has the upper hand.

“High-information voters in more populated areas will fall into the Letlow camp,” Ray said. “She’s the more institutional-looking candidate.”

The two campaigns spent similarly on ads, nearly $1 million each. But the super PAC backing Letlow led all the spending, accounting for $4 million since the primary, according to ad tracking firm AdImpact.

Fleming attacked Letlow on DEI, criticizing him for his AI video

Fleming has ads highlighting Letlow’s previous public support for diversity, equity and inclusion policy, which Trump has tried to eliminate. Letlow, the former college administrator, said she supported DEI while interviewing for president of the University of Louisiana-Monroe in 2020, but said this year she was opposed to it.

Fleming reposted an AI-generated video on the social media platform The fake photo of Letlow also references her husband, who died due to complications from the coronavirus.

Fleming said he didn’t make the video “but it’s being circulated in Louisiana for a reason.”

Letlow condemned sharing the video as “disgraceful and indefensible,” mainly because it mentioned her husband.

Read more: Trump disparages incumbent Sen. Cassidy and tries to push his rival in the Louisiana GOP primary

Letlow has emphasized key priorities for social conservatives, particularly her support for national legislation banning transgender women and girls from competing in school sports.

Fleming focused most of his campaign on opposing carbon capture and sequestration, the process of injecting carbon dioxide waste underground to reduce industrial pollution. The construction of the technology, including planned pipelines, has sparked backlash in rural Louisiana communities and divided the state’s Republican Party.

Fleming said such projects violate private property rights and that federal government support for the technology is a waste.

Voters also choose a Democratic candidate for Senate

In the Democratic primary, Jimmie Davis, a northeastern Louisiana crop farmer, faces Gary Crockett, a Navy veteran and business executive. Both have encouraged addressing the cost of living and protecting social safety nets.

The state is largely republican. Trump won Louisiana by 22 percentage points in 2024.

Beaumont reported from Des Moines, Iowa.