She had the built-in backing of her husband’s supporters and also had endorsements from former President Donald Trump
Julia Letlow won a special election outright Saturday to represent the 5th Congressional District and will succeed her husband Luke, who captured the seat in December only to die of COVID three weeks later.
Letlow, who becomes the first Republican woman elected from Louisiana to the House, won 65% of the vote, according to complete but unofficial returns.
Letlow, 40, had been heavily favored in a 24-parish district that mostly contains farms and small towns and stretches from Monroe to Alexandria to Opelousas to St. Francisville to Bogalusa in the Florida Parishes.
She had the built-in backing of her husband’s supporters and also had endorsements from former President Donald Trump, House minority leader Kevin McCarthy of California and House minority whip Steve Scalise, who is from Jefferson Parish.
Julia Letlow won a special election outright Saturday to represent the 5th Congressional District and will succeed her husband Luke, who captured the seat in December only to die of COVID three weeks later.
Letlow, who becomes the first Republican woman elected from Louisiana to the House, won 65% of the vote, according to complete but unofficial returns.
Letlow, 40, had been heavily favored in a 24-parish district that mostly contains farms and small towns and stretches from Monroe to Alexandria to Opelousas to St. Francisville to Bogalusa in the Florida Parishes.
She had the built-in backing of her husband’s supporters and also had endorsements from former President Donald Trump, House minority leader Kevin McCarthy of California and House minority whip Steve Scalise, who is from Jefferson Parish.
Letlow noted that she has slow internet service at her home in Start, a small town in Richland Parish east of Monroe.
As she campaigned, Letlow also spoke openly about her Christian faith and emphasized to the conservative voters that she was anti-abortion and opposed efforts to restrict ownership of guns.
Letlow said she would have voted against impeaching Trump, and she agreed with the decision of the Louisiana Republican Party’s executive committee to censure U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy for his vote in favor of impeachment. She said she would have voted with fellow Republicans against President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion economic relief package.
She said she would fight any plans to carve up her district when the Legislature meets later this year to redraw the congressional boundaries.
Luke Letlow had been well-positioned to run for the seat because he had spent six years as the right-hand man of U.S. Rep. Ralph Abraham, a Republican doctor who was elected to the seat in 2014, finished third in the 2019 governor’s race and then chose not to seek reelection to the House in 2020.
Julia Letlow wins 5th Congressional District. Her husband died of COVID days before taking the seat.
Letlow, 40, had been heavily favored in a 24-parish district that mostly contains farms and small towns and stretches from Monroe to Alexandria to Opelousas to St. Francisville to Bogalusa in the Florida Parishes.
She had the built-in backing of her husband’s supporters and also had endorsements from former President Donald Trump, House minority leader Kevin McCarthy of California and House minority whip Steve Scalise, who is from Jefferson Parish.
Letlow noted that she has slow internet service at her home in Start, a small town in Richland Parish east of Monroe.
As she campaigned, Letlow also spoke openly about her Christian faith and emphasized to the conservative voters that she was anti-abortion and opposed efforts to restrict ownership of guns.
Letlow said she would have voted against impeaching Trump, and she agreed with the decision of the Louisiana Republican Party’s executive committee to censure U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy for his vote in favor of impeachment. She said she would have voted with fellow Republicans against President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion economic relief package.