Live Results: Louisiana midterm primary runoffs

Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/live-results-louisiana-midterm-primary-runoffs Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Live Results: Louisiana midterm primary runoffs Politics Jun 26, 2026 3:07 PM EDT WASHINGTON (AP) — Louisiana Republicans will nominate a candidate for U.S. Senate in a primary runoff Saturday, six weeks after denying Republican U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy a shot at a third term. Although President Donald Trump already achieved one of his top political goals with Cassidy's defeat, Saturday's runoff could further demonstrate his ongoing influence in Republican primaries as he tries to populate the halls of Congress with loyalists for his final two years in office. The seat is not a top target among Democrats looking to win back control of the chamber in November. WATCH: How the Trump administration is trying to reshape how elections are run Republican U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow and state Treasurer John Fleming are the finalists for Cassidy's now-open U.S. Senate seat. Trump encouraged Letlow to challenge Cassidy in the primary and endorsed her before she entered the race in January. Letlow took office in 2021 in a special election to replace her husband, Luke Letlow, who died from COVID-19 in 2020 before taking office. Fleming served in Congress for eight years leading up to Trump's first term. He ran for U.S. Senate in 2016 but failed to make the runoff. Republican John Kennedy won the seat. Educate your inbox Subscribe to Here’s the Deal, our politics newsletter for analysis you won’t find anywhere else. In the May 16 primary, Letlow placed first with about 45% of the vote, short of the majority required to avoid Saturday's runoff. Fleming placed second with 28% of the vote, just ahead of Cassidy with about 25%. Letlow led in small, mostly rural parishes across the state, with outright majorities in parishes in northeastern Louisiana and along the Mississippi border. Fleming mostly placed a distant second across the state. He performed best in northwestern Louisiana, with leads in nine rural parishes, but not in Caddo, home to Shreveport, where he finished a close second behind Letlow. READ MORE: Louisiana passes new congressional map to eliminate majority-Black district, give GOP another seat Cassidy was the top vote-getter in the state's three most populous parishes, including Orleans Parish where he led Letlow by almost a three-to-one margin. But he barely outperformed Letlow in East Baton Rouge and Jefferson parishes. The president's endorsees have generally had a strong winning record at the ballot box, but his recent picks for governor of Iowa and Georgia lost their primaries. Trump endorsed South Carolina Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette for governor ahead of the primary, but after she was forced to a runoff in a close vote, he announced he was backing both her and her opponent, state Attorney General Alan Wilson, who won the nomination on Tuesday. Trump ha