Advocate Article: How LA Gov. Landry is helping Rep. Julia Letlow against Sen Cassidy

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Not since Huey Long nearly 100 years ago has a governor tried to defeat a sitting U.S. senator from the same political party.

But that’s what Gov. Jeff Landry is trying to do as Sen. Bill Cassidy, a fellow Republican, runs for reelection. Landry is working behind the scenes to raise money for the Senate campaign of U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow and to secure an endorsement for her by the Louisiana Republican Party, according to GOP sources.

Landry has told associates that he has inserted himself into the race at the behest of President Donald Trump, who endorsed Letlow in January because of, it’s widely believed, his unhappiness with Cassidy. The senator is running for a third term in the May 16 Republican primary.

Also challenging Cassidy in the Republican primary is state Treasurer John Fleming, who spent eight years in the U.S. House and worked for the Trump White House during the president’s first term.

No Louisiana governor has opposed an incumbent senator from the same political party since 1932, when then-Gov. Oscar K. Allen, at the behest of Huey Long, helped defeat the reelection of then-Sen. Edwin Broussard.

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John Breaux, a Democrat who won elections to the Senate in 1986, 1992 and 1998, said Landry’s support for Letlow will add to Cassidy’s challenge.

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He (Landry) has not formally endorsed Letlow. But on Feb. 13, he went on social media to say that Cassidy supported the confirmation of “liberal” judges – an accusation that Cassidy promptly refuted.

Afterward, a spokesperson for Landry said, “He intends to follow the president.”

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An associate of the governor who asked not to be named said Trump asked Landry to intervene on Letlow’s behalf when they met during the Washington Mardi Gras celebration nearly a month ago.

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Landry has swung into action for Letlow in recent days.

He convened dozens of big donors for a Zoom call on Feb. 9 to ask them to raise money for Letlow, according to five people who were on the call.

Landry made his pitch and then made way for Kyle Ruckert, a political strategist who stepped down recently as the governor’s chief of staff, and Courtney Guastella, a fundraiser for both Landry and Letlow. Ruckert described how the polls indicate Letlow is making a strong run, according to people on the call.

In a text on Tuesday, Ruckert said he is working for the “Letlow for Senate” campaign.

The call mostly consisted of business owners who have been big donors to Republicans but included at least two trial attorneys, people on the call said.

“The headline to me: This is very important to Trump,” one person on the call said of Landry’s message.

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Meanwhile, Landry’s associates are calling members of the Republican State Central Committee to ask them to have the party endorse Letlow, according to two members who received calls.

Other state central committee members said Landry’s move is roiling the 230-person entity because Letlow, Cassidy and Fleming all have support among the membership.

Fleming criticized Landry’s efforts in an email to members of the state central committee on Friday.

“I request that you make such choices for yourself, rather than attempting to please a high official,” Fleming wrote. “If voters or even members of the party abdicate their rights to choose who leads and represents them, we no longer have a representative democracy.”

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Party chair Derek Babcock said, however, that neither Landry nor anyone else has pitched that idea to him.

“I would be very hesitant to do anything like that,” he said.

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