Julia Letlow's victory in Louisiana's Republican Senate runoff election is being interpreted as a significant win for former President Donald Trump, who had publicly supported her. Letlow successfully secured the GOP nomination, as reported on Saturday.
This outcome further illustrates the formidable power of a Trump endorsement in Republican primary elections and his ongoing efforts to elevate candidates loyal to his agenda for congressional roles. Notably, her win led to the defeat of incumbent Republican Senator Bill Cassidy, who had voted to convict Trump in his second impeachment trial five years prior.
Letlow, who received Trump's backing even before she officially entered the race in January, finished first in the initial primary. She held a double-digit lead over state Treasurer John Fleming, while Senator Cassidy placed third. Since no candidate achieved more than 50% of the vote, Letlow and Fleming advanced to the runoff for the Republican nomination. Cassidy's loss marked the first instance an elected Republican senator failed to secure renomination since Senator Richard Lugar of Indiana in 2012.
Following Cassidy's defeat, Trump took to social media to express that "it’s nice to see that his political career is OVER!"
Senator Cassidy, in his concession speech to supporters, appeared to offer a veiled critique of Trump's rhetoric, stating:
When you participate in democracy, sometimes it doesn't turn out the way you want it to. But you don't pout, you don't whine. You don't claim the election was stolen… You don't manufacture some excuse.
Letlow, who also received support from Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry, a close ally of Trump, previously won her congressional seat in 2021. This occurred after her husband, Luke Letlow, tragically passed away five days before he was to be sworn into the U.S. House following his 2020 election victory for the seat she now holds. Throughout her Senate campaign, she consistently emphasized her support from the former president.
Fleming, who served eight years in Congress before taking on the role of a White House deputy chief of staff during Trump’s initial term, campaigned on the premise that he was the most conservative candidate in the GOP Senate primary.
Letlow is widely considered the clear frontrunner for the general election, where she will face either farmer Jamie Davis or Navy veteran Gary Crockett, who are currently competing in the Democratic Party runoff.
Former President's Endorsement Influence Across States
The significant impact of the former president's endorsement power has been on full display in Republican primaries over the past two months. His preferred candidates have successfully unseated incumbents he targeted in high-profile contests in Indiana, Kentucky, and Texas, in addition to the recent Louisiana primary.
However, this streak of endorsement victories encountered a challenge three weeks prior. In Iowa, Trump's last-minute endorsement of Republican Representative Randy Feenstra in the race to succeed outgoing Governor Kim Reynolds was insufficient to propel the three-term congressman to victory. Feenstra was narrowly defeated by Zach Lahn, a businessman, farmer, and former political strategist. Lahn had garnered support from the political factions of MAHA (Make America Healthy Again, an acronym for a movement aligned with Trump's Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.) and Turning Point USA, the influential conservative organization co-founded by the late Charlie Kirk.
The former president's endorsement power rebounded three weeks ago in South Carolina. Lieutenant Governor Pam Evette, who had Trump's backing, finished first in the GOP gubernatorial primary. Concurrently, Senator Lindsey Graham, a long-standing ally of Trump, secured a majority of votes in the Republican Senate primary, thereby avoiding a runoff. Graham, also endorsed by Trump, faced primary challenges from five candidates, including conservative businessman Mark Lynch, who criticized the senator's support for the war in Iran. Lynch had the backing of some MAGA leaders who have been critical of the former president.
Mixed Outcomes in Key Southern Primaries
Two weeks ago, Trump-backed candidates prevailed in two out of three significant races in Georgia and Alabama. In Alabama's solidly red Republican Senate runoff, Representative Barry Moore, a House Freedom Caucus member and staunch Trump supporter, comfortably defeated Jared Hudson, a former Navy SEAL sniper who had received support from some prominent figures on the right.
In battleground Georgia's Republican Senate runoff, an eleventh-hour endorsement from Trump helped propel Representative Mike Collins, a strong proponent of the MAGA movement, to victory over former college football coach Derek Dooley, who was supported by popular conservative Governor Brian Kemp. Collins is now set to challenge Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff in the general election, a contest that is among a handful likely to determine if the Republican Party maintains its slim majority in the chamber during the midterms.
However, a setback occurred in Georgia's Republican gubernatorial runoff. Lieutenant Governor Burt Jones, who had both Trump's endorsement and Governor Kemp's backing, was defeated by billionaire businessman Rick Jackson, who ran as an outsider candidate.
More recently, on Tuesday, Trump-backed first-time candidate Anthony Constantino, a businessman and former boxer, defeated Robert Smullen, a retired Marine Corps colonel and New York Assembly member who had the state party's support. This victory took place in the upstate New York race to succeed outgoing Republican Representative Elise Stefanik.
Meanwhile, in South Carolina's Republican gubernatorial runoff, the former president's influence was so pervasive that he effectively could not lose. He had endorsed both Lieutenant Governor Pam Evette and, at the last minute, state Attorney General Alan Wilson, with Wilson ultimately winning the contest decisively.
