Julia Letlow Wins Louisiana GOP Senate Runoff, AP Projects. Fleming Concedes After Trump-Backed Congresswoman Takes 55 Percent.

Since Trump declared incumbent Sen. Bill Cassidy's career "OVER" and endorsed Letlow in January, the Louisiana Senate race has served as one of the clearest tests of the president's ability to reshape the Republican Party in his image. Saturday's runoff produced a decisive answer.

Rep. Julia Letlow defeated state Treasurer John Fleming with more than 55% of the vote to Fleming's 45%, according to the Associated Press, which called the race Saturday night. The AP's projection was confirmed across multiple outlets including CBS News and NOTUS.

How It Got Here

Cassidy, the two-term incumbent, was eliminated in the May 16 primary after finishing third with roughly 25% of the vote. Letlow led that field with nearly 45%, Fleming finished second at about 28%. No candidate cleared the 50% threshold required under Louisiana law, sending Letlow and Fleming to Saturday's runoff.

Cassidy's primary loss was the direct consequence of Trump's sustained campaign against him. The senator voted to convict Trump during his 2021 impeachment trial — one of only seven Republican senators to do so — and Trump never let it go. The two had another public confrontation at a Senate Republican lunch in recent days, after Cassidy joined three other Republicans in voting against Trump on an Iran War Powers resolution, according to the AP.

What Letlow Ran On

Letlow, 45, has represented Louisiana's 5th Congressional District since 2021, when she won a special election following the death of her husband Luke Letlow, who died from COVID-19 complications days before he was to be sworn in. CBS News noted she was the first Republican woman from Louisiana elected to Congress.

She pledged full loyalty to Trump's agenda and hammered both Cassidy and Fleming on competing claims to the MAGA brand. Fleming, 74, pushed back hard by calling himself the "MAGA conservative" in the race and hitting Letlow for past support of diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, according to the New York Post.

Fleming had real credentials to make that argument. He was a founding member of the House Freedom Caucus during his time in Congress from 2009 to 2017 and served in a senior health policy role at HHS at the end of Trump's first term. NOTUS noted he also worked as a White House liaison for Operation Warp Speed, the COVID-19 vaccine rollout. That fact probably did not help him with a MAHA-affiliated electorate.

Letlow was endorsed by Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, and her campaign received backing from the MAHA PAC, associated with Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s Make America Healthy Again movement. Landry reportedly began lobbying Trump to back Letlow before she declared, according to the AP.

Trump spent the final days flooding social media with Letlow endorsements. "I know Julia well, have seen her tested at the highest and most difficult levels, and she is a TOTAL WINNER!" he posted Friday, per NOTUS. After the race was called Saturday, Trump posted on Truth Social: "Great News!!! Julia Letlow WON in Louisiana, beating conclusively a very strong and smart opponent."

The Case for Fleming

Fleming's argument that Letlow was an establishment choice dressed in MAGA clothing had some basis. Her prior DEI-adjacent positions were documented, and critics of Trump's endorsement process have a reasonable point that the president sometimes picks candidates based on personal loyalty signals rather than ideological purity. Fleming's deeper conservative credentials, longer record of challenging Republican leadership, and direct White House experience gave genuine MAGA voters a legitimate alternative. Saturday's results show that argument moved 45% of runoff voters. It simply wasn't enough.

Trump's 2026 Endorsement Record, Honestly

The New York Post cited Ballotpedia's figure of a 98% Trump endorsement success rate, but noted that figure includes races without meaningful opponents. The fuller picture: Trump successfully pushed out Cassidy, Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie, Texas Sen. John Cornyn, and five Indiana state senators in recent months. But Trump-backed candidates lost the Iowa and Georgia Republican gubernatorial primaries on June 2 and June 16, respectively, to political outsiders in both cases, per the AP. Louisiana adds a genuine win to that ledger.

What Comes Next

On the Democratic side, Jamie Davis secured his party's nomination with over 78% of the vote in Saturday's primary, per the New York Post. He faces a steep climb. Trump carried Louisiana by 22 percentage points in 2024, according to the AP. The state last elected a Democrat to the Senate in 2008.

If Letlow wins in November, she would be Louisiana's first female Republican senator. The general election is the next concrete hurdle, but the unresolved question heading into it is whether Fleming's DEI attacks will give Democrats any usable material in the fall campaign, or whether a 22-point Trump margin in 2024 makes the opposition's path simply too narrow regardless.