BATON ROUGE, La. — Republican U.S. Representative Julia Letlow won Louisiana’s Republican Senate runoff on Saturday, defeating State Treasurer John Fleming and securing the party’s nomination for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Bill Cassidy, according to results reported by election officials.
With most ballots counted, Letlow led Fleming by about 57% to 43%, according to state election results cited by officials and major news projections. The runoff followed a May primary in which no candidate reached a majority, forcing a head-to-head contest between the top two finishers.
The outcome marks a high-profile test of former President Donald Trump’s continued influence in Republican primaries, as Letlow had received his endorsement early in the race. Cassidy, who finished third in the initial primary, was previously targeted by Trump after voting to convict him in his 2021 impeachment trial.
The race has drawn national attention as Republicans assess intraparty divisions between establishment-aligned figures and candidates closely aligned with Trump’s political movement. Letlow and Fleming both positioned themselves as conservative candidates during the campaign, while competing over ideological alignment with the former president and his policy agenda.
Letlow, who entered Congress in 2021 following the death of her husband, advanced from a crowded primary field that included Cassidy and Fleming. Fleming, a former U.S. House member and Trump administration official, argued during the campaign that he was the more consistently conservative option.
Cassidy’s defeat in the initial round was widely viewed by Republicans as a significant break with incumbency advantage in the state’s Senate politics. He has not commented in recent public statements included in official election updates.
Following the runoff results, Letlow is expected to face Democratic nominee Jamie Davis in the general election. Election officials said final certification procedures will proceed in the coming days under state law.
