Louisiana gave President Trump another proxy win Saturday night.
His endorsed candidate, Rep. Julia Letlow, defeated state Treasurer John Fleming in the Republican runoff for Louisiana’s open U.S. Senate seat.
It is another notch for the president’s endorsement machine, and it caps a brutal cycle for the Republican who voted to convict him.
Sen. Bill Cassidy never made it to the runoff. He was knocked out in the first round back in May, finishing behind both Letlow and Fleming.
President Trump has a message for Louisiana – VOTE JULIA LETLOW FOR U.S. SENATE! pic.twitter.com/1977arU2Ob
— Julia B Letlow, Ph.D. (@jbletlow) June 27, 2026
Fox News framed Letlow’s win as another victory for Trump’s endorsement power, citing the Associated Press race call. The report treated the runoff as a test of whether the president’s backing could still decide Republican Senate fights after Cassidy was already pushed out.
The outlet reported that Trump backed Letlow even before she entered the race in January, and that she finished first in the May primary by double digits over Fleming. It also noted that Letlow had support from Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry, one of the president’s top allies in the state.
Because no candidate cleared 50 percent, Letlow and Fleming advanced to the runoff. Cassidy landed in third and became the first elected Republican senator to lose renomination since Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana in 2012.
Fox also gave the contrast on Fleming, a former congressman who later served in the first Trump White House and argued he was the most conservative candidate in the race. Five years after Cassidy voted to convict Trump in his second impeachment trial, Louisiana Republicans still chose the candidate Trump picked.
The official numbers backed up the call. According to Louisiana Secretary of State live results for race ID 70157, Letlow led with 115,727 votes, or 56.3 percent, against Fleming’s 89,910 votes, or 43.7 percent.
That version of the returns carried a timestamp of 9:01 p.m. Central, with 1,830 of 3,722 precincts reporting and 63 of 64 absentee groups in. These are live, unofficial returns until the state certifies them, but the margin was not close.
The same state results page also showed the Democratic runoff, where Jamie Davis led Gary Crockett by a wide margin. That matters because Letlow’s GOP runoff win effectively sets the shape of the November race in a state Republicans are heavily favored to hold.
Letlow leaned hard into the Trump endorsement down the stretch, and the official returns show that strategy paid off where it mattered.
🚨 NEW VIDEO 🚨
President Trump has a message for Louisiana: VOTE FOR JULIA LETLOW ON JUNE 27!
I am incredibly honored to have President Trump’s complete and total endorsement.
Together, we’ll continue fighting to keep the border secure, unleash American energy, protect our… pic.twitter.com/DJw03njVBp
— Julia B Letlow, Ph.D. (@jbletlow) June 23, 2026
Her campaign put out a statement saying Trump called her a total winner who had delivered for Louisiana. The campaign used that statement to make the endorsement question unmistakable: Letlow was the president’s chosen candidate.
The campaign said Trump pointed to border security, American energy dominance, tax and regulation cuts, support for farmers and fishermen, law and order, veterans, and the Second Amendment as the fights he expected her to take to the Senate.
That agenda fit the closing message Letlow was putting in front of Republican voters: keep the border secure, unleash American energy, and stand with the America First movement in the Senate.
Letlow won her House seat in 2021 under heartbreaking circumstances. Her husband, Luke Letlow, died of COVID-19 five days before he was set to be sworn in for the same district she now represents.
Fleming brought his own resume. He spent eight years in Congress and later served as a White House deputy chief of staff during Trump’s first term, and he argued he was the most conservative candidate in the field.
In a red state in a runoff, the Trump stamp settled it.
WAFB reported from Baton Rouge that Letlow clinched the Republican nomination and now heads to the November general election. The local station described the race as one that drew national attention because Trump weighed in so heavily.
The local report said she will face Democratic nominee Jamie Davis and other candidates in November. WAFB also tied the runoff back to the May 16 primary, where Letlow and Fleming both finished ahead of Cassidy.
That is the Louisiana story in plain terms: the incumbent who crossed Trump did not survive the first round, and the Trump-backed challenger then finished the job in the runoff.
Given Louisiana’s lean, Letlow enters the fall as the clear favorite. The bigger story is the pattern, because Trump has been targeting Republicans who broke with him and replacing them with candidates who will back the America First agenda.
Now the seat goes to the candidate Trump picked from the start. In Louisiana, that turned out to be the whole ballgame.
This is a Guest Post from our friends over at WLTReport. View the original article here.
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