Luke Letlow Wins Runoff for Louisiana US House Seat
Luke Letlow bested a field of fellow Republicans in the runoff election Saturday to represent Louisiana’s 5th Congressional District representing the central and northeastern parts of the state.
Letlow, who was chief of staff for the retiring incumbent, Rep. Ralph Abraham, defeated state Rep. Lance Harris in a two-man runoff election.
“I’m ready to get to work, and I am focused on bringing jobs, investment and opportunity to our district. Each and every person across our rural landscape, whether it’s Bastrop, Bunkie, Bogalusa or all the places in between, has my word that I will never stop fighting to move Louisiana’s 5th District forward,” Letlow said in a statement.
Harris and Letlow both ran as conservatives, with few policy distinctions between them.
Instead they ran on their respective experience and counter-punched time and time again in the last weeks.
Letlow ran as an extension of Abraham’s tenure by saying he’d continue the work that the Congressman has done in Washington.
Harris, meanwhile, talked of his experience as an Alexandria, La., businessman running a chain of gas stations, and as a pecan farmer, noting he didn’t run for a political office until about a decade ago.
Throughout the race he repeatedly attempted to paint Letlow as a Washington insider who lived on taxpayer money.
Despite this, Letlow never lost his frontrunner status. He was endorsed by Abraham right out of the gate and raised more than double what Harris did.
The district is largely rural, containing all or part of 24 parishes, the Mississippi River delta region and the cities of Monroe and Alexandria.
