Julia
Letlow, who is projected to make history Saturday as the first Republican woman elected to Congress from Louisiana, didn't expect to be on a ballot this weekend. Three and half months ago, her husband had won the election for Louisiana's 5th District in an early December runoff. But he never made it to Congress, dying from complications of Covid-19 before he was sworn in.
Letlow, a university administrator who wrote a doctoral dissertation on grief, had to make a quick decision. She jumped into the race in mid-January after the governor called a special election to replace her husband, the late Rep.-elect Luke Letlow.
The first-time candidate had the advantage of a campaign team already in place, and she avoided a runoff by securing a majority of the vote among the 12-person field on Saturday, which means she'll soon bolster the already record-breaking 30 Republican women in the House this year.
"It's definitely different being the candidate than it is the spouse, but nothing that I wasn't used to already," Letlow said in an interview with CNN before her victory. She campaigned alongside her husband -- a former Hill staffer -- across the rural district's 24 parishes when he ran for the safe Republican seat last year.
Under Louisiana's jungle primary system, candidates of all parties run together on one ballot. If no one received a majority of the vote -- which wasn't an easy feat in such a crowded race -- the top two vote-getters would have advanced to an April runoff. Letlow raised $683,000 by the end of February, with Democrat Sandra Christophe raising the next highest amount of money, about $75,000.
