BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — President Donald Trump’s preferred candidate for U.S. Senate in Louisiana is looking to clinch the GOP nomination Saturday and deliver another win for the president, who has sought to replace Republicans who cross him with hand-picked loyalists. U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow, who was endorsed by Trump, and state Treasurer John Fleming are competing in the runoff. The two finished ahead of Sen. Bill Cassidy in the May 16 primary after Trump denounced the two-term senator, who voted to convict him following his 2021 impeachment.A Letlow victory would cap Trump’s primary efforts to unseat Republicans who have not been in lockstep with him. Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie, Texas Sen. John Cornyn and five Indiana state senators all lost reelection bids last month to challengers he backed. Letlow was elected to the House in 2021 after her husband, Luke Letlow, won the same seat but died before taking office. She received Trump’s backing before entering the primary race in January.
She finished first in the primary with nearly 45% of the vote, compared with about 28% for Fleming and nearly 25% for Cassidy. “We have a chance to send a clear message that Louisiana stands with President Trump,” Letlow said Thursday in an online rally with the president. “He endorsed me because he knows I will stand with him.”
