The Advocate: Rep Julia Letlow still won’t agree to Senate race TV debate

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U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow has continued to duck calls for TV debates with her main Republican opponents —Sen. Bill Cassidy and Treasurer John Fleming — as she campaigns to be Louisiana's next senator.

On March 6, Cassidy challenged Letlow to debate him three times in advance of the May 16 Republican primary.

Letlow has countered by offering to participate in a debate only on the program of conservative radio talk host Moon Griffon, who regularly calls Cassidy "Psycho Bill.”

Cassidy has sought to up the ante on Letlow by taunting her daily.

Tuesday, his campaign noted, marked the 11th day since Cassidy called for the three TV debates. It then referred to news accounts that Letlow failed to follow congressional rules when she was more than a year late in reporting 210 individual stock trades. Letlow blamed her financial advisors for the late disclosures.

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In an interview Tuesday, Fleming said he’ll participate in a debate with the two other candidates anytime, anywhere.

James Carville, the famed Democratic political strategist who lives in New Orleans, said Letlow is following a standard strategy for a perceived campaign front-runner.

“She’s in a prevent defense,” Carville said, using a football term for a team trying to sit on a lead. “She doesn’t want to expose herself.”

Louisiana Public Broadcasting and Leaders for a Better Louisiana scheduled a TV debate on April 16 at LPB’s studios in Baton Rouge. But Letlow said she couldn’t appear because the House was scheduled to be in session that day.

Barry Erwin, chief policy officer for a Better Louisiana, said his group responded by telling Letlow’s office on March 5 that they would reschedule the debate — but haven’t heard back from Letlow.

KTBS-TV in Shreveport, which has offered to host a debate for Nexstar stations in Louisiana, also hasn’t gotten a response from Letlow, said anchor Jeff Beimfohr.

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Cassidy, Letlow and Fleming have all released polls showing themselves in the lead. The top two finishers on May 16 will advance to a June 27 runoff. The winner of that race will face one of three Democrats in the November general election: Nick Albares, Jamie Davis or Gary Crockett.

Pearson Cross, a political science professor at the University of Louisiana at Monroe, questioned Letlow’s decision not to engage in debates.

“She’s the person who is not very well known,” he said.

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In a statement, Letlow’s campaign said she is willing to debate Cassidy.

“In a Republican primary, that debate should happen on a conservative platform where Republican voters are already tuned in,” the campaign said. “The Moon Griffon Show is an obvious place to start.”

But Cassidy said a statewide televised debate at night would reach a much bigger audience than an appearance on Griffon’s morning radio program, saying “his listenership is pretty small.”

Griffon said he would treat Cassidy fairly but added, “I call him Psycho Bill because he’s all over the place. He was for Trump before he was against Trump, and now he’s with Trump once again. That’s kind of psychotic.”

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Cassidy also was asked why he didn’t agree to a debate during his 2020 reelection campaign.

“I was going to win that race,” he said. “Frankly, that’s a debate where a debate would not have made a difference.”

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