WASHINGTON – Republican Julia Letlow won a special election in Louisiana on Saturday, according to NBC News.
Voters in the state fill two vacant seats in the first special congressional election of the year.
Letlow replaced her late husband, Luke, who was first elected to the seat in November but died in December from complications of Covid-19.
Letlow, endorsed by former President Donald Trump, was favored to win Louisiana’s heavy Republican 5th Congressional district, but she managed to avoid a run-off election by exceeding the 50 percent threshold. With
Trump issued a statement through his PAC on Saturday afternoon urging voters to show up for Letlow and say “she will never disappoint” and “is outstanding and so essential to our second amendment, at the border, and for to help save our military and veterinarians. “
The other race, in the black 2nd Congress District in Louisiana, which stretches from New Orleans to Baton Rouge, is expected to run to a finish.
The game could provide clues about the vote in the Democratic Party, and especially among Black Democrats a few months after President Joe Biden’s term.
Fifteen candidates are running to replace former representative Cedric Richmond, a Democrat who left Congress in January to take a senior role in Biden’s White House, so no one is expected to meet the 50 percent threshold. to exceed the first round to avoid the end of next month.
Richmond and other Democratic Party power brokers support moderate Senator Troy Carter, but he is faced with stiff competition from Senator Karen Carter Peterson, who is acting as a progressive.
Carter Peterson, who until last year was chairman of the Democratic Party of Louisiana, was endorsed by the women’s group Emily’s List, the former gubernatorial candidate for Georgia, Stacey Abrams and Our Revolution, who uncovered Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign.
Carter and Carter Peterson – who are not relatives – both raised about half a million dollars for the race by the end of February, according to campaign funding reports, while activist Gary Chambers raised more than $ 300,000, with the rest from the field far. behind.
The district is more than two-thirds Black and strongly Democratic, with Richmond re-elected by nearly 50 percentage points last year over its closest Republican rival.
The next special congressional election is currently scheduled to take place on June 1 in a secure Democratic district in New Mexico, where candidates are fighting to replace former Representative Debra Haaland, who was confirmed as Home Secretary on Monday.
