WASHINGTON — Rep. Julia Letlow (R-La.) is jumping into the race to challenge Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) in the wake of President Trump’s shocking endorsement of her over the weekend.
“It’s an honor to share with you today that I’m officially announcing my candidacy for the United States Senate,” she told attendees at a breakfast in Baton Rouge on Tuesday, Politico and other outlets first reported.
In a campaign video unveiled later, the House rep touted the “courageous leadership” of President Trump — and in an apparent swipe at Cassidy said, “A state as conservative as ours, we shouldn’t have to wonder how our senator will vote when the pressure’s on.”
“Louisiana deserves conservative champions, leaders who will not flinch,” Letlow declared. “This Senate seat belongs to you, the people of Louisiana, and I will never forget that.
“It also belongs to the children who will live tomorrow with the choices we make today,” added the congresswoman, having shown pictures of her eight-year-old son and six-year-old daughter earlier in the campaign launch.
The video also touted her work in Congress “standing up for our parents, securing our borders, supporting law enforcement, rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse that drives up inflation, and fighting to fix an education system too focused on woke ideology instead of teaching.”
Cassidy launched his re-election bid for a third term last year and has the backing of Senate GOP leadership.
Trump didn’t mention him by name when he backed Letlow, who has been toying with a run for months.
“Congresswoman Letlow called me this morning to say she was running,” Cassidy said in a statement.
“She said she respected me and that I had done a good job. I will continue to do a good job when I win re-election,” the Louisiana senator added.
“I am a conservative who wakes up every morning thinking about how to make Louisiana and the United States a better place to live.”
The second-term senator’s campaign war chest dwarfs Letlow’s current cash on hand in her congressional campaign coffers, $9.5 million to nearly $2.3 million, according to the latest Federal Election Commission filings.
Trump urged Letlow on Saturday to run in the US Senate contest, dubbing her a “TOTAL WINNER” and “wonderful person.”
“I am hearing that Julia is considering launching her Campaign for the United States Senate in Louisiana, a place I love and WON BIG, six times,” he posted on Truth Social.
“Should she decide to enter this Race, Julia Letlow has my Complete and Total Endorsement. RUN, JULIA, RUN!!!”
Cassidy, who chairs the influential Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, had been spared a tough challenge from popular ex-Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards, a Democrat, last year.
He still has supported the president on critical votes concerning executive war powers resolutions and measures to rein in tariffs.
But his opposition at times to Trump’s appointees — like Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — and record of voting against the president has rankled some in the GOP.
After the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot, Cassidy was one of seven Senate Republicans who voted to convict Trump after he was impeached by House Democrats.
The Louisiana Republican had also called on the 45th president to drop out of the 2024 election following the unsealing of the classified documents indictment.
