Julia Letlow took 45% of the vote in Louisiana’s first-round Republican Senate primary on May 16. John Fleming took 28%. Incumbent Bill Cassidy managed 25% and was out. On Saturday, June 27, 2026, Letlow finished the job, winning the runoff over Fleming, the state treasurer, according to NBC News projections.
A race Trump shaped
President Donald Trump endorsed Letlow early, and MS NOW noted he did so repeatedly, even before she formally entered. His target was Cassidy, who voted to convict him on impeachment charges after the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot. Cassidy never reached the runoff.
Letlow leaned on that backing. At a telerally with Trump the Thursday before the vote she said: “I promise you this: When I get to the United States Senate, I will never back down from fighting for your America First agenda.” She cast the contest as a choice between “a real conservative fighter in the Senate” and another career politician, and said she supports ending the Senate filibuster to help pass the Save America Act, a Trump-backed bill to overhaul election laws.
Fleming ran as the truer Trump ally and went after her past support for diversity, equity and inclusion policies and foreign aid. Letlow told NBC News she changed her position on DEI when she “saw it for what it was.” Governor Jeff Landry, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise and Rep. Clay Higgins backed her, and an allied super PAC bought airtime for her.
Money did not decide it. Federal Election Commission filings cited by MS NOW show Fleming lent his campaign more than $11 million and brought in more than $12.1 million overall. Letlow lent nothing and raised more than $5.35 million. Polls before the runoff had the pair close, with Letlow holding a small lead in several.
From a widow’s special election to the Senate
Letlow came to Congress in 2021 with no political experience. Her husband Luke Letlow, a former congressional aide, had won a House seat in 2020 and died of Covid-related complications in December of that year before he could be sworn in. She won the special election to fill the seat with nearly 65% of the vote and became the first Republican woman to represent Louisiana in Congress, MS NOW reported. She has since served nearly three terms, including time on the Appropriations Committee. She holds a doctorate in communication from the University of South Florida.
The engagement
Her personal news came earlier than the runoff. On December 12, 2025, WBRZ reported, Letlow announced on X that she was engaged to Kevin Ainsworth, a former LSU baseball player and a partner at the Jones Walker firm in Baton Rouge. Her office said he proposed at the White House before a party attended by several members of Congress. “What a blessing it will be to spend the rest of my life with Kevin Ainsworth,” she wrote. No wedding date was given at the time.
November
Letlow now faces Democrat Jamie Davis, a farmer who won his party’s runoff the same night. Louisiana has not sent a Democrat to the Senate since Mary Landrieu won her last term in 2008, and Trump carried the state by 22 points in 2024.
Sources
- Trump-backed Rep. Julia Letlow wins Louisiana Senate GOP runoff (NBC News)
- Rep. Julia Letlow wins Louisiana GOP Senate primary runoff (MS NOW)
- Rep. Julia Letlow announces on X that she's engaged to be married (WBRZ)
