Republican Louisiana Rep. Julia Letlow entered her state’s 2026 Senate race Tuesday to unseat GOP Sen. Bill Cassidy just days after President Donald Trump publicly urged her to run.
Trump announced in a surprise Truth Social post Saturday that Letlow would have his “Complete and Total Endorsement” if she decided to challenge Cassidy, who was one of seven Republicans to convict Trump during his impeachment trial following the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol. Letlow responded to Trump’s post that day writing she was “honored” to have the president’s endorsement, but stopped short of announcing a run at the time.
“Today, I am announcing my candidacy for the United States Senate to ensure the nation we leave our children is safer and stronger. Louisiana deserves a conservative Senator who will not waver,” Letlow wrote in a Tuesday X post accompanied by an announcement video. “I am honored to have President Trump’s endorsement and trust.”
“My parents taught me well. They taught me that when the Lord opens a door, you don’t walk through it—you run. It’s an honor to share with you today that I’m officially announcing my candidacy for the United States Senate,” Letlow said Tuesday in remarks made at an event in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and obtained by Politico ahead of her official announcement.
“Congresswoman Letlow called me this morning to say she was running. She said she respected me and that I had done a good job,” Cassidy wrote in a Tuesday post to X. “I will continue to do a good job when I win re-election. I am a conservative who wakes up every morning thinking about how to make Louisiana and the United States a better place to live.”
Letlow, a former academic administrator, was first elected to Congress during a special election in 2021 after her late husband, Luke Letlow, won the seat in 2020 but died from COVID-19 complications before he could be sworn into office.
Cassidy, who is seeking his third Senate term, appeared blindsided by the president’s endorsement of Letlow. The incumbent senator told NBC on Wednesday that “senior people” in Trump’s orbit assured him the president would remain neutral in the race.
However, despite his support for convicting Trump in 2021, Cassidy has made efforts to mend his relationship with the president over the past year. The Louisiana Republican voted for all of the president’s cabinet nominees, including Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., despite disagreement over vaccine policy. As of Tuesday, the pinned post on Cassidy’s X account is a picture of him with the president in the Oval Office.
“This is what a great working relationship looks like,” Cassidy wrote.
Cassidy, as the chairman of the influential Senate Health, Education Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee also pledged Friday to steer Trump’s recent healthcare proposal through the Senate. Cassidy’s panel would likely have an outsize role over the shape of future health care bill.
Cassidy said he would continue to seek reelection regardless of Letlow’s plans.
“I’m proudly running for re-election as a principled conservative who gets things done for the people of Louisiana,” Cassidy said following Trump’s endorsement of Letlow. “I am confident I will win if Congresswoman Letlow decides to run.”
The ruby-red Senate seat is expected to remain in Republican hands regardless of the primary contest outcome. Republican Louisiana State Treasurer John Fleming is also vying for the GOP nomination. If no candidate wins more than 50% of the vote during the April 18 primary, the two top vote-getters would compete in a May run-off election.
Republican Maine Sen. Susan Collins, who also voted to convict, is running for reelection in November. Trump has not endorsed her campaign and argued she and other Republicans deserved to lose reelection after she voted to block him from launching future strikes against Venezuela absent congressional approval earlier in January.
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