U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow, R-Louisiana. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
After a stop in Milwaukee earlier this week for the Republican National Convention, U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow made the trip to qualify Thursday in Baton Rouge for re-election to the 5th Congressional District, which now includes portions of the capital city.
Letlow, who lives in the Monroe suburb of Start, has yet to draw a competitor so far in the qualifying period that ends at 4:30 p.m. Friday for the Nov. 5 ballot.
The 5th District was altered to include more of Baton Rouge after the Louisiana Legislature turned the 6th District into the state’s second seat in Congress more likely to elect a Black representative. The current 6th District officeholder, Rep. Garret Graves, R-Baton Rouge, who is white, chose not to seek re-election. Three Black Democrats have already signed up for the race to replace him.
Letlow, 43, was asked whether she intended to reach out to Graves for insight into her updated district or a possible endorsement
“Garret Graves has always been, first and foremost, a friend to me and to my family,” Letlow said. “He was wonderful to my late husband, Luke, was a mentor to him and continued on to be a mentor to me, and I am hopeful to continue to garner his expertise.”
Luke Letlow won the 5th District race to replace Congressman Ralph Abraham in 2020 but died from complications of COVID-19 five days before he would have taken office. Julia Letlow won a special election in March 2021 to take his place in Congress, having garnered the endorsement of then-President Donald Trump. She then won re-election in 2022 with 67% of the vote in the primary against three challengers.
Regarding her new district boundaries, Letlow said she intends to listen to constituents to get an idea of what their priorities are.
“I’m going to pick as many communities that I can and make sure that I’m listening to their concerns, whether it’s flood control, crime,” she said. “There’s different concerns down in South Louisiana than there are in North Louisiana … But I’m kind of excited to learn from potential constituents about what I can be working on for them and Congress.”
Letlow described a “more subdued” atmosphere at the Republican National Convention than she had anticipated, which she attributed to an assassin’s attempt to take Trump’s life this past Saturday.
Abortion has been a focal topic at the RNC, with Trump’s stance at odds with more religious conservative members of the party. Letlow said she aligns with the former president who has said states should decide whether to make the procedure illegal, while the GOP’s far right arm has pushed for a nationwide abortion ban.
Letlow is among the supporters of the Hyde Amendment, legislation from 1977 that allows states to use federal money for abortions in instances of rape or incest.
The congresswoman was noncommittal when asked about her support for funding Ukraine in its war with Russia, saying she would listen to her constituents on the issue.
House Speaker, another 2nd District candidate qualify
U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Monroe, is still in Milwaukee for the final day of the Republican National Convention. He sent his daughter, Hannah, to Baton Rouge as his proxy to qualify in Louisiana’s 4th Congressional District.
Johnson has held the seat since 2017. He’s drawn one opponent, Republican Joshua Morott, who listed a Benton, Arkansas, address when he qualified Wednesday.
The field for the 2nd Congressional District, which is also a majority-Black seat, is now four deep after incumbent Rep. Troy Carter, D-New Orleans, drew another challenger.
Devin Davis, 27, was the political organizer for the progressive policy advocacy group Voters Organized to Educate until May, when he left his job to run for Congress.
Davis joins the field with fellow Democrats Devin Lance Graham of Gonzales and Shondrell Perrilloux of St. Rose, who qualified Wednesday.
“It’s wrong that we are a district that stands on the front lines of so many crises in our country, on the front lines of the climate crisis, on the front lines of the housing crisis, of a drug crisis,” Davis told reporters. “And to say that we currently have a representative in Washington that has received hundreds of thousands of dollars from the petrochemical industry, from the oil and gas industry, from the insurance lobby, from companies like Entergy, you know, these very companies, these very corporations that are are actively killing our people are holding our communities back in some way, shape or form.”
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This report will be updated Thursday as additional congressional candidates qualify for the Nov. 5 election.
The post Letlow qualifies in reshaped 5th Congressional District appeared first on Louisiana Illuminator.