https://washingtonsun.com/louisiana Louisiana en-US Sun, 28 Jun 2026 01:47:13 GMT https://washingtonsun.com/2026-election/louisiana-senate-runoff-results Christa Dutton The three-term lawmaker endorsed by President Donald Trump will advance to the general election for Sen. Bill Cassidy’s seat. Sun, 28 Jun 2026 01:47:13 GMT https://washingtonsun.com/2026-election/louisiana-senate-runoff-results President Donald Trump’s pick in Louisiana’s Senate contest has secured the Republican nomination after a bruising primary that culminated in a runoff.

Three-term Rep. Julia Letlow was projected to beat state Treasurer John Fleming in a runoff race on Saturday that mostly measured which candidate was Trumpier. Letlow is now favored to win the general election for Sen. Bill Cassidy’s seat in Congress because of how red Louisiana is.

Cassidy, who earned Trump’s anger by voting to convict him during his 2021 impeachment, failed to advance to the runoff in May.

That Trump's candidate won in Louisiana is a welcome victory for a president whose endorsement power and ability to shape public opinion has been constantly under test this cycle. His role especially stands out in this race, given that he was eager to see the incumbent out of Congress and that he endorsed Letlow before she’d even jumped in the race.

“I know Julia well, have seen her tested at the highest and most difficult levels, and she is a TOTAL WINNER!” Trump said in a social media post on Friday, urging Louisiana voters to back her.

Letlow has served in Congress since 2021, when she won a special election to replace her husband, Luke Letlow, who died in December 2020, just days before he was set to be sworn in. She represents a solidly red district that stretches the entire eastern side of the state.

She received the endorsement of Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry, and her campaign was backed by MAHA PAC, which is associated with the Make America Healthy Again movement. Cassidy often criticized the movement, which led the PAC to spend against him in the primary.

Fleming, a former lawmaker, was a founder of the House Freedom Caucus who worked in the first Trump administration as a liaison for Operation Warp Speed, the White House’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout.

Letlow beat Fleming by about 16 percentage points in the initial primary vote.

Jamie Davis is the projected nominee for Democrats.
]]> https://washingtonsun.com/immigration/911-calls-immigrant-detention-rural-emergency-care Jackie Llanos Records of hundreds of 911 calls illustrate the weight of immigration detention on emergency services. Wed, 24 Jun 2026 09:50:00 GMT https://washingtonsun.com/immigration/911-calls-immigrant-detention-rural-emergency-care PHILIPSBURG, Pennsylvania — Emergency responders sped out of a Pennsylvania immigrant detention center on a recent Saturday morning, sirens blaring as they drove past more than 20 protesters demanding the lockup’s closure.

It was the Moshannon Valley EMS crew’s second run to the Geo Group-owned site that day.

The number of detained immigrants the crew serves has grown by 44% since President Donald Trump returned to office. The Moshannon Valley Processing Center now holds nearly 1,700 people, according to the Deportation Data Project — a population more than half the size of the town.

The nonprofit has responded to 43 calls at the detention center since October, EMS chief Fred Ferguson said during a recent interview in the back of one of Moshannon Valley’s five ambulances.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement hasn't paid them for any of those calls yet, he said.

“We have to have some faith that someone's going to do the right thing and compensate us for the work that's provided,” Ferguson said. “But you have to be hesitant as well.”
philipsburg_pa_edits/_C0A2790 copy.jpg (7491x4994, AR: 1.50)Like many providers of rural health and emergency care, the Moshannon Valley EMS is stretched thin. Staffers sometimes have to come into work when they’re off duty. Between gas, wear-and-tear and staff wages, just driving an ambulance out of the station costs around $800, Ferguson said.

“We are used to doing more with less,” he said.

Rural emergency services across the country face a demand they can’t readily meet at times as ICE scales up its detention capacity. First responders already dealing with few resources and long drives to hospitals are handling expanded populations. The migrants themselves are left waiting for emergency care for urgent medical needs, according to records of 440 calls to 911 from detention centers in rural areas of Pennsylvania, Louisiana, Georgia, Indiana and Texas.

The calls, most of them from the second half of 2025 and obtained by public requests, feature people requiring treatment for chest pain, pepper-spray exposure and assault. They include calls about children as young as 8 months old, as well as some of the 50 deaths in ICE custody since Trump returned to office. They paint a picture of how reliant immigrant detention centers are on local emergency services — and the strain that massive detention centers can put on the communities where they’re located.
philipsburg_pa_edits/_C0A3228 copy.jpg (7478x4985, AR: 1.50)At another Geo Group detention center in Louisiana, staff called 911 four times in 38 minutes on Nov. 18, repeatedly asking how long it would take for an ambulance to arrive.

“We’re short on ambulances,” a dispatcher said on the third call.

“It’s been 22 minutes,” responded an exasperated staff member at the Central Louisiana ICE Processing Center. “I know we may be short an ambulance, but I got a guy here that’s in dire need to get out of here.”
HTML EmbedDetention center employees didn’t provide the man’s age or symptoms. During the third call, a dispatcher said she could send an ambulance that was 40 minutes away.

That detention center holds 1,300 detainees in Jena, a town of roughly 4,100. Four ambulances answer calls in the region, and the nearest small hospital is less than 2 miles from the detention center. More complex emergencies require transport to the Rapides Regional Medical Center, 38 miles away.

Four days earlier, a dispatcher told an employee at the center that it would be “just a bit” before she could send an ambulance for a man with chest pain.

“We were actually gonna send him by Geo van, but Geo didn’t want us to take him all the way to Rapides having chest pain,” the employee said.

“I guess that’s OK,” the dispatcher responded, laughing. “It is what it is.”

The call ended with the dispatcher saying she might have to send an ambulance from a hospital 18 miles away.

Geo Group did not respond to questions about specific incidents. But a spokesperson said the company provides ready access to off-site EMS when needed.

“While GEO’s health care service capabilities cover a wide range of services and treatments, at times we may utilize Emergency Medical Services to address medical needs, as necessary,” the spokesperson, Christopher Ferreira, said.

Along with the Central Louisiana and Moshannon Valley detention centers, NOTUS obtained records of 911 calls from the Stewart Detention Center in Georgia, an Indiana prison loaning beds to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, known as the “Speedway Slammer,” the South Texas ICE Processing Center and the Dilley Immigration Processing Center.
https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/HvNxV/2/
Geo Group also operates the South Texas ICE Processing Center. Another giant prison group, CoreCivic, runs the adult facility in Stewart, Georgia, and the family one in Dilley, Texas.

With detention center populations surging and oversight shrinking, immigrants and groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union have sued the Trump administration over conditions detainees are subjected to, including lack of medical care. The independent watchdog for ICE and the DHS found violations of detention standards, including health and safety issues.

The Department of Homeland Security repeatedly dismisses reports of inadequate care, saying health care provided in detention is “the best healthcare illegal aliens received in their entire lives.”

Some of this medical care happens outside the detention facilities. 911 dispatchers routinely answer multiple emergency calls a day from detention centers. Of the hundreds of calls NOTUS reviewed, 42% took place the same day staff at the lockups had already requested help.

At the South Texas ICE Processing Center in Pearsall, a rural residential city off I-35 between San Antonio and Laredo, dispatchers had to send ambulances to transport five detained immigrants on Oct. 24, 2025:

• At 8:47 a.m. a 34-year-old man reported hypertension.
• At 3:03 p.m. a 62-year-old man reported chest pain.
• At 3:11 p.m. a 43-year-old woman reported hypertension. 
• At 6:30 p.m. a 28-year-old man reported high blood pressure and chest pain. 
• At 9:20 p.m. a 67-year-old man reported chest pain.

There’s a hospital less than half a mile from the detention complex, but some incidents require ambulances to take detainees to the teaching hospital in San Antonio, a drive that can take more than an hour.

The Miami Correctional Facility — a prison in the small town of Bunker Hill, Indiana — started holding immigrants in civil detention in October.

Within two weeks of immigrants arriving, emergency dispatchers fielded two calls in the middle of the night: The first involved two men who had been in a fight, and the other, less than an hour later, requested an ambulance for a 44-year-old man who was unconscious and didn’t speak English. The records don’t include information on whether the people involved in the incidents were ICE detainees or prisoners.

Two people in ICE custody have died this year at the Indiana prison, which currently holds more than 500 immigrants — in a town of under 1,000 people. The Indiana Department of Corrections, which operates the facility, did not respond to NOTUS’ request for comment.

Staff at the Central Louisiana ICE Processing Center called 911 twice last August after employees used pepper spray in a dormitory. At least two detainees needed to go to the hospital, and multiple people required stretchers, the staff told 911 dispatchers.

Last year, ICE’s inspectors found that the facility didn’t follow recording standards in use-of-force incidents.

In one call, the nurse at the detention center hesitated before explaining the situation to the dispatcher.

“We had a issue in the dorm, where they sprayed the whole dorm with the pepper spray or whatever,” the nurse said. “We’ve got multiple people in medical, and they’re asking for another stretcher out on the walk, and I don’t have one; the only thing I know to do is to call y’all.”

The dispatcher said the ambulance would be there in 20 to 25 minutes.
philipsburg_pa_edits/_C0A2895 copy.jpg (8192x5464, AR: 1.50)A lack of timely EMS access is widespread in rural communities. Response times in rural areas average 73 minutes, according to a 2022 policy brief from the National Advisory Committee on Rural Health and Human Services. This means a single call at a detention center could take an ambulance out of commission for hours.

The Moshannon Valley crew in Pennsylvania primarily responds to 911 calls in two vast counties that are home to roughly 16,000 people. Often, the EMS team assists smaller companies deeper in the mountains that only have one ambulance each.

Compared to the number of calls the emergency responders tend to, roughly 3,500 annually, the volume coming out of the detention center is not overwhelming the crew, Ferguson said. The lack of payment isn’t hurting their bottom line so far. 

The Moshannon Valley EMS has 10 full-time employees and 35 part-time staff. On a recent Monday morning, a team of six gathered at the station, a barn-like building between a gas station and old train tracks. They chitchatted about coffee orders and filled out paperwork around a folding plastic table, waiting for the alarm signaling an emergency.

The team received 16 calls within the span of roughly 12 hours, more than usual ahead of a Monday evening, which tends to be one of their busier nights.

None of the 16 calls that day were for the detention center, and the team has only gone there twice in June. But the 911 call records obtained by NOTUS showed 52 calls to 911 for the center from July to December last year, many of them for chest pain and heart problems.
philipsburg_pa_edits/_C0A2936 copy.jpg (7007x4671, AR: 1.50)philipsburg_pa_edits/_C0A3009 copy.jpg (8192x5464, AR: 1.50)Responding to calls at Moshannon Valley Processing Center often takes at least an hour, between traveling to the facility and then to the nearest hospital able to treat patients with chest pain, strokes and other cardiovascular issues.

Philipsburg’s hospital shuttered two decades ago, leaving only an urgent care clinic; none of the detainees needing emergency help ended up there.
https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/ZJ9LH/2/The effects of delayed care can be catastrophic.

“If you have somebody who needs emergent care and you can't get there for an hour — if you're having a heart attack or a stroke — those things make a big difference, because there are only certain interventions that you can get within a six-hour window or a one-hour window,” said Amy Zeidan, an assistant professor at Emory University’s Department of Emergency Medicine, who studies healthcare at immigration detention centers.

In the last half of 2025, completed emergency-response times at the Pennsylvania detention center averaged an hour and 45 minutes, the second-longest median completion time of the detention centers NOTUS reviewed. (These figures include state police, county services and the county coroner, along with EMS.)

NOTUS wasn’t able to obtain the data for calls to the Central Louisiana ICE facility to determine the completion time. But at the other facilities, the median completion time was close to an hour or longer.

At the South Texas facility, the median call took 58 minutes. At both the Indiana and Dilley centers, the median was an hour and 9 minutes. At the Stewart Detention Center, it was 2 1/2 hours.

CoreCivic spokesperson Ryan Gustin said the company’s facilities can’t control EMS response times. Staff can take detainees in vans to receive medical care, but they're not set up as ambulances, he said. And the county has a limited number of ambulances.

“If our medical team determines the wait for EMS arrival is too long, facility protocols allow for transport via facility vehicle at the direction of medical staff,” Gustin said in a statement.

The Stewart Detention Center is in such a rural area that the facility’s detained population of nearly 2,000 is double the population of the adjacent town of Lumpkin.

Two suicides have taken place there during Trump’s second term.

EMS from a neighboring county arrived 35 minutes after staff found Denny Adan Gonzalez, 33, suspended from a sheet in his cell on April 28, the Atlanta Community Press Collective reported. All of Stewart County’s ambulances were tending to other emergencies.

“Unfortunately that is the reality, and it is very common in Stewart seeing that it takes longer for them to arrive and to provide the immediate emergency care that people need,” said Amilcar Valencia, the executive director of El Refugio, an advocacy group for immigrants held at the detention center. “If they need to be transported to the hospital, it will be another 45 minutes.”

The county has two ambulances running around the clock, while nearby counties have just one.

“Given that asset, we are not over-burdened here,” Mac Moye, the county manager, said in a statement.
philipsburg_pa_edits/_C0A2781 copy.jpg (8192x5464, AR: 1.50)As in Philipsburg, ICE hasn’t paid the EMS in Stewart County for responding to the detention centers’ calls, Moye said.

In January, months after payments from the government to the EMS stopped, ICE asked the Moshannon Valley crew’s billing company if they would still respond to calls at the detention center, Ferguson said.

“We will never stop delivering medical care to individuals that need it, no matter who they are,” he said.]]> https://washingtonsun.com/congress/louisiana-new-congressional-map-one-majority-black-district-supreme-court Manuela Silva The new map, which now awaits Gov. Jeff Landry’s signature, would likely give Republicans six of seven House seats. Fri, 29 May 2026 19:49:45 GMT https://washingtonsun.com/congress/louisiana-new-congressional-map-one-majority-black-district-supreme-court The Louisiana State Legislature on Friday approved a new congressional map that heavily favors Republicans in six out of the state’s seven U.S. House districts, and eliminates one of only two majority-Black districts in the state. The bill now awaits the signature of Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry, who is widely expected to sign it.

The move by state lawmakers in Baton Rouge is the latest in a flurry of Republican redistricting efforts across the South following the April Supreme Court ruling in Louisiana v. Callais that largely eliminated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

In the 6-3 decision, the high court’s majority ruled that a previous Louisiana map, which was drawn in 2024 to add a second majority-Black congressional district, was an “unconstitutional racial gerrymander.”

Shortly after the high court announced the decision, Landry declared a state of emergency and delayed the state’s House primaries until Nov. 3, leading to widespread confusion over whether the votes that had already been cast would count.

Louisiana lawmakers have spent the weeks since the decision looking at various proposals for a new congressional map that would draw the lines to maximize Republicans’ advantage in the state. The new map is similar to the 2022 Louisiana congressional map, eliminating Democratic Rep. Cleo Fields’ district but maintaining Democratic Rep. Troy Carter’s.

Speaking with NOTUS earlier this month, Fields said the issue is “not whether or not I serve another day in Congress. The issue is whether or not a person like me will have the opportunity to serve in Congress.”

In their House floor speeches on Thursday, the state’s Democratic lawmakers decried the new map, saying the new lines would significantly deny Black Louisianans political representation.

“‘We gave you all two districts already.’ That is what a colleague of mine had the gall to tell me to my face. As if fair representation for Louisiana's Black voters was a gift or a treat to be given or withheld at the whim of an administration,” state Rep. Candance Newell said on the House floor Thursday.

“The question today,” Newell said to her colleagues, “is why we are going backwards?”

U.S. Rep. Clay Higgins, a Louisiana Republican, told NOTUS earlier this month that he understood the redistricting process could be difficult, but that he would “support the final product that comes out of my state legislature,” and hoped that “they can maintain cultures and communities as much as possible within districts and not divide cities and parishes.”

But following passage in the state House on Thursday, Higgins posted on X blasting the map.

“This map is the worst I’ve seen yet, and I’ve seen many,” Higgins wrote. “This Frankenstein looking thing was NO DOUBT drawn up by a very small handful of guys in a secret room. NOBODY should support this insanely bad map.”

If Landry signs the bills as expected, Louisiana will join Tennessee in successfully ushering through a map that is even more friendly to Republicans following the Supreme Court’s Callais decision. The court is still weighing a challenge to Alabama’s redistricted map.]]> https://washingtonsun.com/louisiana/bill-cassidy-louisiana-senate-primary-results Christa Dutton Rep. Julia Letlow and state treasurer John Fleming, MAGA favorites, will advance to a runoff. Sun, 17 May 2026 02:56:22 GMT https://washingtonsun.com/louisiana/bill-cassidy-louisiana-senate-primary-results Sen. Bill Cassidy’s primary challengers are projected to advance in a competitive contest for his Louisiana Senate seat — locking the incumbent out of a path forward.

Rep. Julia Letlow, who received President Donald Trump’s endorsement, and state treasurer and former Rep. John Fleming, a MAGA darling, will advance to a runoff for the Republican nomination on June 27, the Associated Press projected Saturday.

Cassidy’s relationship with Trump, whom he voted to convict after the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol in 2021, has long been tense. And his projected loss gives Trump another win in his revenge campaign against Republicans who crossed him.

"Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana is a disloyal disaster," said Trump in a Truth Social post on Saturday morning. "Bill Cassidy is a sleazebag, a terrible guy, who is BAD FOR LOUISIANA. Now he’s going to get CLOBBERED, hopefully, in today’s BIG election, by two great people!!! VOTE TODAY FOR JULIA L. She Is a winner who will NEVER let you down."

The senator, a physician, continued to put himself at odds with the president over aspects of his public health agenda during this administration. He criticized Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s vaccine policies, and Trump blamed him for delaying the nomination of his first surgeon general pick, Dr. Casey Means.

On most other issues, Cassidy aligned himself with the president. And he was still taking a confident posture at the start of Election Day.

“I’m going to win today,” Cassidy told Politico in an interview on Saturday. “I may go into a runoff. But I’m always going to vote for the good of my country and my people.”

This cycle was the first in 50 years that Louisiana used a closed-primary system, meaning moderates like Cassidy could not count on votes from independents and Democrats as they had in recent primaries. Cassidy’s campaign criticized the closed-primary law the day before the election.

“It’s not an accident that voters are confused by this intentionally difficult process,” Katie Larkin, Cassidy’s campaign manager, said in a statement. “The Governor closed the primary and continuously meddled in this election to support Julia Letlow.”

Cassidy’s projected loss will create a vacancy in the Senate next year for his spot as the top Republican on the chamber’s Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee.

Letlow is the latest Trump-backed primary candidate to perform well, even if she’s yet to secure the nomination. Last week, the president’s picks swept in Indiana’s state Senate races, and attention for now will turn to Kentucky’s Fourth Congressional District, where Rep. Thomas Massie hopes to fend off his Trump-backed challenger.

Letlow, a three-term lawmaker, also earned the support of the MAHA movement and its MAHA PAC, which pledged to spend $1 million to elect her. The group spent just under $600,000, according to an FEC report filed in the week leading up to the election.

Gov. Jeff Landry also urged major donors to give to Letlow’s campaign, much to the frustration of other Republicans in the state, Politico reported. In the final weeks of the campaign, she focused on beating Fleming rather than Cassidy. A super PAC supporting Letlow, Accountability Project, spent about 10 times more in ads targeting Fleming than it did targeting Cassidy over the course of the race, according to AdImpact.

Fleming, a founding member of the House Freedom Caucus who worked in the first Trump administration, largely self-funded his campaign. He faced calls to drop out out of fear that he would foil the president’s pick. He told CNN that he received three calls from the White House to drop out before the filing deadline. Trump adviser Alex Bruesewitz posted on X last week that he should drop out.

While the MAGA base didn’t back Cassidy during this primary, top GOP leaders did. Majority Leader John Thune and the National Republican Senatorial Committee gave him their endorsements.

Cassidy’s relationship with the NRSC was at times fraught. Punchbowl News reported in April that Cassidy told the NRSC it was not spending enough on his behalf. The Senate GOP’s super PAC, the Senate Leadership Fund, did not spend in the primary.

Cassidy’s campaign and Louisiana Freedom Fund, a super PAC backing Cassidy, spent nearly $22 million on ads, according to AdImpact. He ran ads that featured Trump, despite not receiving his endorsement.

Of the federal races that appeared on the ballots for Saturday's primary, only the results for the Senate race will be valid. Landry suspended the House primaries despite voting already being underway so the state could draw a new congressional district after the Supreme Court weakened the Voting Rights Act.

The House primaries have been rescheduled for Nov. 3.]]> https://washingtonsun.com/2026-election/louisiana-senate-primary-bill-cassidy-julia-letlow-financial-disclosures-delay-stock-trades Dave Levinthal Cassidy's spokesperson accused Letlow of having a "history of sketchy financial behavior." Fri, 01 May 2026 20:53:53 GMT https://washingtonsun.com/2026-election/louisiana-senate-primary-bill-cassidy-julia-letlow-financial-disclosures-delay-stock-trades Rep. Julia Letlow’s frequent stock trades have become a major campaign issue in Louisiana’s hyper-competitive U.S. Senate race.

But voters aren’t likely to see the latest details about Lewlow’s personal finances by the state’s May 16 Republican primary vote, despite a federal deadline on May 15 for publicly disclosing such information.

That’s because both Letlow, as well as primary opponent and incumbent Sen. Bill Cassidy, have both requested — and received — 90-day extensions for revealing their latest trove of personal assets, debts and nongovernmental sources of income, a NOTUS review of congressional documents indicates.

As a result, neither Letlow nor Cassidy is legally required to file their annual personal financial disclosures, which cover financial activity during 2025, until mid-August. That’s not only weeks past this month’s Republican primary, but after a potential June 27 primary runoff.

In January, NOTUS revealed that Letlow violated the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act by failing to properly disclose more than 210 personal stock trades that combined were worth between $225,000 and $3.3 million. (Lawmakers are only required to list the values of their trades in broad ranges.)

Letlow’s congressional office declined to answer specific questions about her financial disclosure extension.

"Brief filing extensions are very common and provide all lawmakers time to gather the appropriate documentation. Her disclosure will be filed in full compliance with the law and transparency,” Letlow spokesperson Matt Smith said in a statement.

Cassidy’s office also didn’t explain why the senator requested a filing extension, something he’s periodically done in previous years. But Cassidy campaign manager Katie Larkin said the lawmakers’ two extension requests aren’t comparable.

“Letlow and Cassidy are in totally different situations — she has a history of sketchy financial behavior and her disclosure would provide voters with information they need to make their decision,” Larkin told NOTUS. “In stark contrast, Sen. Cassidy doesn’t trade stocks and his financial disclosures are always about as interesting as plain toast.”

NOTUS’ ongoing Capitol Gains project indicates that Letlow’s median net worth was $1.68 million at the end of 2024. At the time, she reported individual stock holdings in dozens of companies, including government contractors and businesses that spend millions of dollars each year lobbying the federal government.

Cassidy’s median net worth for the same time frame, meanwhile, was in the red: -$1.06 million. Mortgages are the main source of Cassidy’s debt, congressional financial records covering 2024 indicate.

“I’m not serving in the U.S. Senate to get rich and enrich myself — that’s not what leaders do,” Cassidy previously told NOTUS.

Former congressman and current Louisiana State Treasurer John Fleming, who is also running alongside Letlow and Cassidy, said he plans to file his personal financial disclosure by the May 15 deadline. All voters deserve an up-to-date picture of all the candidates’ finances, he told NOTUS in a phone call.

“If you’re going to send someone to Washington to deal with the nation’s finances, it’s probably good for the people to know how they’re managing their own budget,” Fleming said. “Given the problems [Letlow] had, I can understand why she would want to delay that disclosure. Cassidy I don’t know about.”

Fleming’s wealth is significant. His most recent federal-level financial disclosure, which covers activity during 2024, lists hundreds of mutual funds, real estate holdings, business entities and stakes in Subway restaurant franchises that he and his wife own.

An Emerson College/KLFY-TV poll this week put Fleming and Letlow in a statistical dead heat leading the race, while Cassidy remained within striking distance, and more than one in five likely voters were still undecided.

Cassidy, a physician in his second term in the Senate, has at times opposed President Donald Trump, particularly on health policy matters. Trump, who endorsed Letlow in January, this week called Cassidy “very disloyal.”

Whoever wins the Republican primary is almost certain to win the November general election: The Cook Political Report scores the race a “solid” Republican seat.

Because Louisiana’s Senate primary features three leading candidates who are “barely differentiated on ideology and issues,” Robert Hogan, the political science department chair at Louisiana State University, says any potentially problematic revelation in a candidate’s personal financial disclosure report “could be seized upon and amplified by opposing candidates or outside groups.”

“It is therefore unsurprising that candidates have not voluntarily provided such information beyond what is required,” Hogan said, adding that “financial disclosure reports enable voters to judge whether candidates have potential conflicts of interest and most observers believe such information is beneficial to help voters make informed decisions.”

Nothing is stopping Letlow and Cassidy from changing their minds about their financial disclosures: Either could decide to publicly file them before the May 16 primary, even if they’re now not legally obligated to do so until Aug. 13.]]> https://washingtonsun.com/courts/supreme-court-ruling-louisiana-callais-voting-rights-act Torrence Banks The court ruled that Louisiana went too far in considering race to draw its congressional map. Wed, 29 Apr 2026 15:38:34 GMT https://washingtonsun.com/courts/supreme-court-ruling-louisiana-callais-voting-rights-act The Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled that Louisiana’s congressional map, which was drawn to add a second majority-Black district, “is an unconstitutional racial gerrymander.”

The 6-3 ruling in Louisiana v. Callais guts a key part of the Voting Rights Act, potentially affecting congressional district lines ahead of the 2026 midterms.

Justice Elena Kagan, who penned the dissent, called the Callais ruling the “latest chapter in the majority’s now-completed demolition of the Voting Rights Act.” She wrote that under the court’s new parameters, states can “systematically dilute minority citizens’ voting power.”

The court’s majority ruled in favor of Republicans in the state who argued that the state’s use of race when creating its 2024 congressional map was unconstitutional.

Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 has been interpreted to allow states to use redistricting on racial lines in order to ensure the voting power of minorities is not diluted.

The majority opinion from Justice Samuel Alito shows that states would have an uphill battle if they tried to redraw districts on racial lines in the future.  

“Allowing race to play any part in government decisionmaking represents a departure from the constitutional rule that applies in almost every other context,” Alito wrote, adding that Section 2 of the law “could not justify the State’s use of race-based redistricting here.”

The case spilled over from the Supreme Court’s past term, when it deliberated whether Louisiana’s congressional map relied too much on race. On the final day of its last term, the court took the rare step of kicking the case to the current term for new arguments. It broadened the scope of the question to address whether “the State’s intentional creation of a second majority-minority congressional district violates the Fourteenth or Fifteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution,” opening the door to a potential overhaul of the congressional map.

Louisiana, where the case originated, had already decided to use the state’s current map for the upcoming midterms, even as Louisiana Democratic and Republican lawmakers professed a desire last summer for the Supreme Court to make a final decision on the matter. But The New York Times estimated that about a dozen Democratic House seats could be in danger in other Southern states, including Tennessee and Georgia.

On Friday, Republican Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves announced his plans to call a special session to allow the state Legislature to redraw the maps following the ruling.

Louisiana v. Callais initially centered around a challenge from 12 voters who identified as “non-African American” and argued that the state’s 2024 congressional map too heavily relied on race. The map added a second majority-Black district in the state, won by Democratic Rep. Cleo Fields in November 2024.

In October’s oral arguments, conservative justices asked questions of the defense that suggested that they would consider ruling against the Voting Rights Act.

Justice Neil Gorsuch, for example, asked a lawyer from the NAACP Legal Defense Fund if it is “acceptable” under the Voting Rights Act for “a court to intentionally discriminate in a remedial map on the basis of race?”

The final ruling stopped short of declaring Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act unconstitutional.

But Justice Clarence Thomas, who was part of the majority, indicated that he is willing to entertain further challenges to the law.

“As I explained more than 30 years ago, I would go further and hold that Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act does not regulate districting at all,” Thomas wrote in a concurring opinion.]]> https://washingtonsun.com/courts/federal-judge-pressures-fda-to-finish-abortion-pill-review Oriana González The Food and Drug Administration must complete its review of abortion pills “within a reasonable timeframe,” a federal judge in Louisiana ruled on Tuesday. Tue, 07 Apr 2026 22:22:32 GMT https://washingtonsun.com/courts/federal-judge-pressures-fda-to-finish-abortion-pill-review A federal judge in Louisiana on Tuesday ordered the Food and Drug Administration to provide a status report of its review of the abortion pill mifepristone, which the agency has so far kept under wraps.

U.S. District Judge David Joseph ruled that a case brought by the state of Louisiana against the FDA that seeks to impose restrictions on mifepristone must be paused in the meantime. Joseph wrote that the agency has to finish its safety review “within a reasonable timeframe.”

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, announced in a September letter that the FDA would conduct a safety review of abortion pills, which account for more than half of all abortions in the U.S.

Since then, health officials have kept the details of the review secret. In February, FDA Commissioner Marty Makary reportedly failed to give Republican senators a timeline for when the review would be completed. The lack of action on the matter has angered anti-abortion leaders, some of which previously told NOTUS they felt “betrayed” by the Trump administration on the matter.

Joseph gave the FDA six months to file a report on “the status of its review in terms of process and any updated timeframe for completion of review,” he wrote in his opinion.

“FDA has an obligation to act with all deliberate speed to review its past actions and complete a thorough analysis that addresses the deficiencies it has acknowledged,” Joseph said. “The parties and the American public deserve nothing less.”

The Biden administration first made abortion pills available via telehealth in 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic. This guidance became permanent in 2023.

The state of Louisiana sued the FDA in October over that guidance, arguing that it violates the Comstock Act. Abortion pills being available via mail “directly violates Louisiana’s abortion laws and prevents Louisiana from protecting the lives of unborn babies,” the state argued in its complaint.

A recent report from the Guttmacher Institute, a research organization that supports abortion rights, found that patients in states where abortion is banned are increasingly able to access abortion pills via telehealth. Mifepristone is considered safe and effective by leading medical organizations.

In his ruling, Joseph suggested that Louisiana was likely to succeed in its challenge to the FDA. He seemed to agree with Louisiana’s argument that there were “recent safety concerns” that bring into question whether the FDA’s decision to make mifepristone broadly available through the mail was legal. However, Joseph concluded that the “FDA’s review should be conducted and completed free from judicial interference.”

If the FDA fails “to complete its review and make any necessary revisitions” to mifepristone, Joseph said the “Court’s analysis … will inevitably change,” suggesting he could order the agency to make abortion pills accessible only in person, which would heavily restrict access to medication abortion.

In a statement to NOTUS after publication, an HHS spokesperson said the FDA “is conducting its safety study of mifepristone, including the collection of robust and timely data, evaluation of data integrity, and implementation of the analyses, validation, and peer-review.”

“Once the FDA finishes its analysis of the data, the agency will decide whether to make substantive changes” to how abortion pills are accessed, the spokesperson continued. “The agency is taking care to do this study properly and in the right way.”

—
Editor’s Note: This story has been updated with comment from HHS.]]> https://washingtonsun.com/capitol-gains/louisiana-congress-investments-money-stocks Torrence Banks, Taylor Giorno Speaker Mike Johnson, Majority Leader Steve Scalise and Sen. Bill Cassidy have not cashed in during their congressional service, bucking expectations. Tue, 17 Mar 2026 09:00:00 GMT https://washingtonsun.com/capitol-gains/louisiana-congress-investments-money-stocks The old saying “the rich get richer” does not appear to apply to leaders of Louisiana’s powerful congressional delegation.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, Majority Leader Steve Scalise and Sen. Bill Cassidy — chair of the Senate’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee — have witnessed their wealth stagnate or decline since arriving on Capitol Hill, according to a NOTUS analysis of their personal financial disclosures.

Johnson, Scalise and Cassidy all buck the expectation, and frequent reality, that accumulating political power corresponds to increasing personal wealth. Their mortgage costs play a key role in — but do not entirely account for — their financial downturns.

Cassidy, a medical doctor elected to the House of Representatives in 2008 and to the Senate in 2014, had an estimated median net worth of more than $2.2 million the year he was first elected to Congress — exponentially greater than the wealth of most Louisiana residents.
https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/88OvI/1/His 2008 personal financial disclosure indicated Cassidy and his wife owned stock in major companies including AT&T, Chevron, Clorox, General Mills and Johnson & Johnson. Cassidy also owned a one-story rental home worth from $250,001 to $500,000. Cassidy’s mortgage debt deducted $175,001 from his median net worth. (Personal finance disclosures don’t require lawmakers to report the value of their residences.)

Cassidy became ranking member of the HELP Committee in 2023 and its chair in 2025 following President Donald Trump’s election.

Cassidy’s 2024 personal financial disclosure filing indicates his median net worth has plummeted in recent years — to nearly negative $1.1 million, with two mortgages accounting for most of the deficit. He had sold off his stock holdings, too.

"I've spent the last 17 years in Washington working for Louisiana and laser focused on how to make it a better place to live. I'm not serving in the U.S. Senate to get rich and enrich myself — that's not what leaders do,” Cassidy said in a statement to NOTUS.

Scalise, also elected to the House in 2008, entered Congress with a median net worth of just over $240,000. His 2024 personal financial disclosure filing shows that his net worth is now around negative $574,000.

Scalise, who became House majority whip in 2014 and majority leader in 2022, did not disclose a mortgage or home in his 2008 filing. While lawmakers are required to disclose mortgages on personal residences, congressional candidates are exempt. Neither lawmakers nor candidates have to disclose the value of their personal residence as an asset.

Scalise’s 2024 filing shows two mortgages: the first for at least $250,001 that he signed with Chase Bank in June 2013, and a second mortgage the same month with Gulf Coast Bank for at least $100,001. The only asset he disclosed is a joint bank account valued from $1,001 to $15,000.

Cassidy and Scalise arrived on Capitol Hill in much better financial standing than Johnson, who was sworn into Congress in 2017 and became speaker of the House in 2023.

Despite his powerful position, Johnson is one of the least wealthy members of Congress.
MikeJohnsonSteveScalise (4855x3688, AR: 1.32)Johnson entered the chamber with significant mortgage debt — and a median net worth of negative $442,000, according to his 2016 filing.

By 2024, Johnson’s median net worth has barely budged. The value of his liabilities has also more or less remained steady — Johnson reported a 2013 mortgage valued from $250,001 to $500,000, a 2016 personal loan from $15,001 to $50,000, and a 2019 home equity line of credit from $15,001 to $50,000, according to his 2024 filing.

While many of Johnson’s congressional colleagues have disclosed all manner of personal assets — from stocks and bonds to cryptocurrency and rental property — the speaker is notable for disclosing no financial assets at all.

Government watchdogs have expressed skepticism about how a six-figure earner doesn’t even have a savings or checking account, say nothing of a retirement fund or other stores of wealth.

Johnson did disclose that he earned $29,890 from teaching “online college courses” through Liberty University. As speaker, he earns a government salary of $223,500.

Johnson declined to comment on his filings. Scalise did not respond to requests for comment.

Every year, members of Congress are required in annual financial reports to disclose the values of each of their assets and liabilities in broad ranges, such as $15,001 to $50,000. The ranges get bigger the larger the assets or liabilities get. The biggest value range they can report is open-ended — $50 million or more. There are also assets lawmakers don’t have to report, such as their primary residence or personal vehicles.

Still, disclosures offer a window into how Louisiana lawmakers are making their money. NOTUS calculated the median net worth of each lawmaker by first finding each member’s minimum net worth — the sum of the minimum value of all assets minus the sum of the maximum value of all their liabilities — and their maximum net worth — maximum asset value minus minimum liabilities. NOTUS then calculated the median between the minimum and maximum net worths.

Lawmakers filed their most recent financial disclosures in 2025, which cover their finances in 2024.

In addition to annual financial reports, lawmakers must also report most individual stock, bond and cryptocurrency trades within 30 to 45 days of the trade, per the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act.

Congress is actively debating whether lawmakers should be allowed to own individual stocks, given concerns about potential insider trading, conflicts of interest and rampant disclosure-related violations of the STOCK Act.

Johnson, who does not own stocks, according to his financial disclosure, has publicly said he’s “in favor” of a stock-ban bill — although Politico reported in September that he had privately argued for stock trading to help members pay for school and other expenses.

The House Administration Committee advanced a Johnson-backed bill in January — the Stop Insider Trading Act — that places some restrictions on stock trading by members of Congress, but ultimately allows lawmakers to keep and sell stock they currently own and lets family members continue to trade freely.

Other pending stock-ban measures, including the Restore Trust in Congress Act and the Restore Trust in Government Act, go further. To date, neither the full House nor Senate has scheduled votes on stock-ban bills.

Such a stock-trading ban, were it to pass, wouldn’t much affect Rep. Clay Higgins, a Freedom Caucus member who previously worked in law enforcement. Voters elected Higgins to Congress in 2016 with a median net worth of $8,501 and no stocks of any sort to his name.

Higgins reported no assets in 2024, when he took on a mortgage worth at least $250,001. That mortgage pulled his net worth down to negative $375,000 — but, again, he does not have to disclose the market value of that home.
Clay Higgins AP-24108700723970 (5555x3702, AR: 1.50)Higgins said in a statement to NOTUS that he and his wife, Becca, “have lived a modest working family life, and we used to joke about wealth, saying we’re hundredaires.”

“A few years ago, we had paid all of our bills and we still had a couple of grand in the bank. ‘Wow, we’re thousandaires,’ Becca said,” Higgins added.

Other Louisiana lawmakers in Congress, however, have seen an increase in wealth since their arrival on Capitol Hill. Stock ownership has, in part, contributed to these spikes.

For example, House Appropriations Committee member Rep. Julia Letlow, a Republican who won a special election in 2021 to replace her husband after he died from COVID-19 complications, saw her median net worth rise from $673,000 to more than $1.2 million, in part through the purchase of stocks in companies such as Meta, Walt Disney and Walmart.

Letlow’s main home in Northeast Louisiana, where she lives with her children, was also listed as an asset on her original 2024 filling with a minimum value of $500,001, even though she is not required to report it. Letlow amended her report in January and removed her personal residence from her list of assets.

In January, NOTUS reported that Letlow violated the STOCK Act after she failed to disclose more than 210 personal financial trades on time.

Letlow’s office declined to comment on her personal finances.

Cassidy and Letlow are running in a Republican Senate primary against one another, and Cassidy has made Letlow’s stock trading a campaign issue, calling her “Nancy Pelosi 2.0” — an oblique reference to the tens of millions of dollars worth of stock trades the former Democratic House speaker’s husband has made in recent years.

Cassidy told NOTUS that elected officials “shouldn’t be allowed to cash in by trading stocks,” since they “have access to information that the public does not.”

Louisiana Democrat Rep. Troy Carter was elected to Congress in 2021 with a median net worth of negative $550,001.

Since then, Carter’s personal finances appear to have improved. His median net worth is $374,004 based on his latest filings from 2024, in part because he appeared to pay off a mortgage and several car loans.
Troy Carter AP-25073051399938 (7461x4973, AR: 1.50)Carter’s congressional office disputed that the lawmaker, who is 62 years old, has been in the red any time recently.

“Congressman Carter has not had a negative net worth since he was 25 years old. He has not purchased or sold any stocks during his time in Congress, and his stock portfolio has remained unchanged,” a spokesperson from Carter’s office told NOTUS in an email. The spokesperson did not respond to follow-up questions about the congressman’s wealth.

Sen. John Kennedy, elected to Congress nearly a decade ago after serving as Louisiana’s state treasurer, went from having a median net worth of nearly $10.9 million in 2016 to more than $19.1 million in 2024.
John Kennedy 2023 AP-23332585517328 (7770x5180, AR: 1.50)Mutual funds have fueled the growth in Kennedy’s wealth, according to his financial disclosures.

The minimum value of mutual funds held by Kennedy and his spouse increased from $707,000 in 2016 to nearly $7.1 million in 2024. He and his wife have also held the same mortgage, currently valued from $100,001 to $250,000, since 2011.

Within the delegation, Rep. Cleo Fields, a Democrat reelected in 2024 nearly two decades after a two-term stint in the mid-1990s, has also accumulated significant personal wealth. Fields’ median net worth is nearly $38.6 million, per an analysis of his 2024 annual financial disclosure.

And he’s made headlines for some of his stock trades.
Cleo Fields AP - 24320626403841 (4000x2667, AR: 1.50)In October, NOTUS reported that Fields purchased from $80,000 to $200,000 worth of Oracle shares days before Trump signed an executive order indicating the company would play a key role in splitting TikTok off from its Chinese parent company, ByteDance.

In December, Fields purchased from $200,000 to $500,000 worth of Netflix stock at a time when the entertainment giant was attempting to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, which was attracting the attention of the Trump administration and Trump himself.

Fields also has made several recent purchases of stock in Palantir, a company that has scored massive federal government contracts with the Department of Defense and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

When asked by NOTUS in February about his Palantir investment, Fields said that he didn’t “have any thoughts on that,” but then added: “Palantir, I wish I could get my money back, I wish I could get my money back.”

Fields has made more than 210 stock trades — together worth well into the millions of dollars — since he was sworn into Congress in January 2025, according to congressional disclosure records.

Fields and Kennedy did not respond to requests for comment.]]> https://washingtonsun.com/republicans/does-a-trump-endorsement-mean-what-it-used-to Torrence Banks The president’s allies say it’s stronger than ever — even as his agenda’s popularity sags. Fri, 13 Mar 2026 09:13:00 GMT https://washingtonsun.com/republicans/does-a-trump-endorsement-mean-what-it-used-to Rep. Richard Hudson, the chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee, says President Donald Trump has a magic touch when it comes to making endorsements.

Hudson, who has long played a key role at the NRCC, said that Trump has been valuable in choosing candidates for the House Republicans’ campaign arm to endorse this cycle. As a result, Trump has “helped clear primary fields” in “competitive” districts.

“We certainly talk more, coordinate better than we did before,” Hudson said about the difference between working with Trump in his first and second terms. “I don't think it was ever bad. I just think we've gotten better at communicating early. What candidates are you talking to? What do you see out there? And we try to make sure we're closely aligned.”

Sign Up for NOTUS’ Free Daily Newsletter

The president's use of his endorsement to strategically place candidates in certain races ahead of primaries has been clear this cycle. Rep. Julia Letlow, a Republican from Louisiana, decided to enter the Senate race and challenge incumbent Sen. Bill Cassidy after Trump publicly called on her to run. A former chair of the Alabama Republican Party, John Wahl, announced his run for lieutenant governor after unexpectedly receiving an endorsement from Trump.

In Arizona, Karrin Taylor Robson received Trump’s endorsement early in the state’s governor’s race. But after Trump also endorsed Rep. Andy Biggs in the race last April, Taylor Robson  dropped out of the race in February.

White House allies were bullish about the influence he has on races.

“It seems like it got more powerful from 2020 to 2024 when he was figuring out if he was going to run again,” one Republican strategist working on multiple Trump-endorsed campaigns told NOTUS about the president’s endorsement. “And now that he's president for the second time, it's the most powerful thing in American politics.”

“A lot of these races across the country, you're seeing the people kind of put their egos aside and get on the side of the president and his team and the MAGA agenda,” the strategist continued. “You're starting to see that the really good people are understanding that, I am probably not going to beat the president’s endorsement. That's how powerful it is. And so I want to make sure I’m supporting him in his agenda.”

Blake Miguez, a Republican state senator from Louisiana, decided to drop out of the U.S. Senate race after not getting Trump’s endorsement, and instead decided to run to replace Letlow in the House. Miguez, who ultimately did get an endorsement from Trump in the race for Letlow’s seat, told NOTUS that the president’s endorsement cleared “nearly half of the Republican primary field.”

“Trump country folks have a lot of confidence in the president,” Miguez said during an interview at the start of March. “When they [candidates] stay into the race or they push things in defiance to the president, they have to answer their constituency and/or make a case that they're a better candidate. But if I had to bet, I'm betting on President Trump.”

The Atlantic on Wednesday reported that Miguez’s former girlfriend accused him of rape and abuse in a 2007 police report. The outlet reported that Trump endorsed Miguez without knowledge of the allegations. A spokesperson for Miguez’s campaign told NOTUS that the allegations are “categorically false.”

The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

Trump’s endorsements haven’t guaranteed victory in the past. Mark Burns, a pastor, lost to now-Rep. Sheri Biggs in a 2024 runoff election in South Carolina, in which the governor and Trump endorsed separate candidates. Republican Sen. John Curtis beat Trump’s endorsed candidate to replace retiring Sen. Mitt Romney in Utah during the same cycle. And in Georgia, the president endorsed former Sen. David Perdue for governor in 2021, only for him to decisively lose to Gov. Brian Kemp in the primary.

But Republicans still believe a Trump endorsement boosts their chances of success.

“Does Donald Trump's endorsement help a Republican candidate in a Republican primary? Undoubtedly,” Mo Brooks, a former Republican congressman from Alabama who lost Trump’s endorsement to Sen. Katie Britt for his comments on the 2020 election, said. “Does it guarantee victory? No. Ultimately the candidate has to prove his muster.”

Clay Fuller, Trump’s endorsed candidate to replace former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene in Georgia, on Tuesday advanced to a runoff in a crowded special election.

Fuller, a district attorney in Georgia, told NOTUS last month that Trump’s endorsement was “rocket fuel” for his campaign. He said he would have dropped out of the race if he didn’t receive it.

“Before the endorsement, I said I am a candidate that is running as 100% pro-Trump. And if he makes a decision, goes with some other candidate in this race, I'm going to support the president's decision,” Fuller said.

“If it had been another candidate, I would have gotten out of the race and supported that candidate,” he added.

Even as Trump’s agenda on immigration enforcement, tariffs and the war with Iran is growing increasingly unpopular, Republicans say his endorsement is still highly coveted.

“Normally in politics, endorsements are really not that influential. They may help with some fundraising, but they don't really mean that much to the average voter,” said Stan Barnes, a lobbyist and former Republican state senator in Arizona. “But the Donald Trump endorsement does mean something to the average voter.”

“And that's why it's so popular, because Trump is trusted by a great many people that are Republican, loyal voters. And it is so much easier to say ‘what does Trump want?’ as a Republican voter than it is to actually research the issue or to try to make up your own mind.”

Chuck Coughlin, an Arizona political strategist and former Republican, said the president’s endorsement is more powerful now than ever. He said that Trump’s popularity with Republican voters “doesn’t seem to waiver.”

“I think he's looked at as more of an elder statesman,” Coughlin said. “He's not up for reelection again. He's the incumbent president. He's the leader of the Republican Party, unquestionably.”

“It's like the former CEO who comes back and is CEO and has more loyalty amongst the rank and file by virtue of his having left and come back,” he added.

The suggestion that someone else’s endorsement might have greater influence among Republicans is quickly dismissed by Trump’s allies.

Michael T. Lowry, a pollster and a former chief of staff for Republican Rep. Robert Aderholt, released a poll showing that Britt’s endorsement is more powerful than Trump's within her state of Alabama. She was fast to downplay it.

“There is nothing more powerful than a Trump endorsement,” Britt told NOTUS. “He wants to make sure he gets good people in that can help move his agenda forward. And obviously, it's certainly his prerogative.”]]> https://washingtonsun.com/louisiana/julia-letlow-bill-cassidy Torrence Banks The Louisiana lawmaker is jumping into one of the most heated Senate primaries after getting President Donald Trump’s preemptive endorsement. Tue, 20 Jan 2026 15:47:20 GMT https://washingtonsun.com/louisiana/julia-letlow-bill-cassidy Republican Rep. Julia Letlow announced on Tuesday that she is challenging Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy for his seat.

Letlow, who got President Donald Trump’s endorsement over the weekend before announcing her campaign, officially joins the group of Republican challengers looking to oust Cassidy from his seat after months of speculation over whether she would join the race.

“I am announcing my candidacy for the United States Senate to ensure the nation we leave our children is safer and stronger,” Letlow said in a statement announcing her run. “Louisiana deserves a conservative Senator who will not waver. I am honored to have President Trump’s endorsement and trust.”

She first made the announcement during a breakfast event in Baton Rouge, according to Politico.

“My parents taught me well. They taught me that when the Lord opens a door, you don’t walk through it — you run,” Letlow reportedly said during the event. “It’s an honor to share with you today that I’m officially announcing my candidacy for the United States Senate.”

The Louisiana Senate primary will be one of the most heated in 2026. On Saturday, Trump posted on Truth Social that Letlow would have his “Complete and Total Endorsement” if she entered the race.

NOTUS previously reported that Trump called Senate Majority Leader John Thune on Friday to let him know of his plans to endorse Letlow. Thune encouraged him to back Cassidy instead, citing concern over losing Cassidy’s support on future legislation.

Trump’s endorsement in the race was long expected to play an outsized role.

“Of course I prefer his endorsement but if it’s not an endorsement, neutral is probably the next best thing,” Cassidy told Politico in September.

Letlow’s announcement brings into focus a competitive Republican primary in which Cassidy faces challenges from his right to keep his seat. The state’s new closed-primary system is also expected to make it harder for moderates to prevail, putting pressure on Cassidy.

Cassidy said in a statement that he received a call from Letlow ahead of her announcement saying that she “respected” him and that he had “done a good job.”

"I will continue to do a good job when I win re-election,” Cassidy said in a statement. “I am a conservative who wakes up every morning thinking about how to make Louisiana and the United States a better place to live."

In May, Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry and President Donald Trump reportedly discussed the possibility of Letlow entering the Senate race. While Letlow said in August that she was "humbled by the outpouring of support” she received as she considered a bid, she said she didn’t have a timetable on her decision to enter the race.

She was also in the running to be the next president of Louisiana State University before announcing she was not interested in the job at the start of September.

The field for Cassidy’s seat is full of candidates jockeying for the Republican nomination.

Louisiana Treasurer John Fleming, state Sen. Blake Miguez and state Rep. Julie Emerson are among those running for the seat. Fleming and other Republicans have highlighted Cassidy’s tumultuous past with Trump and have questioned Cassidy's lack of support for Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as part of their campaigns.

Since Cassidy voted to confirm Kennedy, the two have butted heads over health policy. For example, Cassidy, a physician, disagreed with Kennedy’s decision to terminate grants used for the production of new mRNA vaccines and his firing of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Susan Monarez.

Meanwhile, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee called Letlow’s announcement “the latest in a string of problems for national Republicans as they grapple with infighting and a toxic agenda that has put their Senate majority at risk.”

“Republicans’ Senate headaches just got even worse as they face another nasty primary with a Trump-endorsed candidate against a sitting Senator,” DSCC spokesperson Maeve Coyle said in a statement.

Letlow is a member of the powerful House Committee on Appropriations. She first came to Congress in 2021 following a special election to replace her husband, Luke Letlow, who died before taking office.

Letlow, who is also a member of the House Committee on Education and Workforce, has closely aligned herself with the Trump administration’s education agenda. She invited Linda McMahon, the United States secretary of education, to visit several classrooms in her state as part of the secretary’s Return Education to the States Tour.

Letlow also caught attention after NOTUS reported last week that she violated the federal Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act by missing a deadline to disclose more than 210 personal stock trades, which together are potentially worth millions of dollars.

—
This story was produced as part of a partnership between NOTUS and Verite News.

Editor's Note: This story has been updated with additional reporting.]]>