U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow has officially joined the race to unseat Sen. Bill Cassidy in Louisiana.
Letlow first made the announcement Tuesday (Jan. 20) during an appearance at a breakfast event hosted by Baton Rouge Business Report before sharing a video announcement for her campaign on X. She declined to comment on the campaign to WRKF, with her press person pointing to the as her official statement.
In the video, Letlow focuses on her kids as to why she is running for Senate.
“The future of America depends on (children), and I can’t help but worry, ‘What kind of country are we leaving for them?’” Letlow said in the video.
Letlow joins an increasingly crowded field of republicans running to unseat Cassidy. She stands out from the rest as President Donald Trump endorsed her on Saturday (Jan. 17) in a post on Truth Social, saying she has his “Complete and Total Endorsement.””
Letlow re-shared Trump’s endorsement on X over the weekend, and she praised himin her announcement video.
“I have fought alongside President Trump to put America first,” Letlow said in the video.
While she didn’t mention him by name, Letlow took what some are interpreting as a jab at Cassidy for his vote to impeach Trump during his first presidency.
“With a state as conservative as ours, we shouldn’t have to wonder how our Senator will vote when the pressure is on,” Letlow said in the video.
Trump’s feud with Cassidy is at the center of the race, according to Albert Samuels, the chair of political science and geography at Southern University.
“Bill Cassidy has been trying to walk back, if you will, the vote that he cast in 2021 to convict. Donald Trump,” Samuels said. “[He’s] in for the race of his life.”
Cassidy said on X that Letlow called him before she announced her candidacy. He kept a confident tone about his reelection campaign.
“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,” Cassidy said on X. “I am a conservative who wakes up every morning thinking about how to make Louisiana and the United States a better place to live.”
As for the other candidates in the race, Samuels said he’s keeping an eye on what they’ll do now that a Trump-endorsed candidate is in the race.
“Now that Letlow has gotten in the race, how does that affect the behavior of the other announced candidates? Do they stay in?” Samuels said.
Letlow will be stepping aside from her seat in the House of Representatives to run her campaign. Her open seat will draw additional interest from prospective candidates.
The deadline to qualify for the election is January 30, and the first midterm is May 16.
