Source: Politics<\/p>\n
Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry wants to be a kingmaker. But his efforts to elevate Rep. Julia Letlow\u2019s Senate campaign is irritating other Republicans in the state.<\/p>\n
The first-term GOP governor has become a central figure in President Donald Trump\u2019s revenge tour<\/a>, working to boost Letlow to take down Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.)<\/a>, who is viewed by MAGA supporters as insufficiently loyal to the president. Landry has publicly endorsed her and dispatched his chief of staff to advise her campaign. Behind the scenes, he\u2019s been urging major donors to financially support Letlow, according to six people familiar with his pressure campaign.<\/p>\n But his aggressive efforts are annoying Louisiana Republicans, who see him as overstepping to prop up a candidate who is struggling to dominate<\/a> as the front-runner, given her relatively low name ID and the rise of another MAGA candidate: State Treasurer John Fleming.<\/p>\n Nearly a dozen GOP lawmakers, strategists and party leaders said in interviews that they\u2019ve long been frustrated by his efforts to strong-arm the party over his legislative priorities and see the Senate race as the latest salvo.<\/p>\n \u201cWe’re in some crazy territory where there are yes men all around the governor, and they don’t do anything he doesn’t want them to do, and they do everything he wants them to do,\u201d said Kelby Daigle, St. Martin GOP parish chair, who supports Cassidy.<\/p>\n One prominent Louisiana businessperson, granted anonymity to speak freely, said Landry had asked dozens of executives on a conference call earlier this year to donate to Letlow. The person, a Cassidy supporter, promptly hung up.<\/p>\n \u201cGovernor Landry has gone all-in on Letlow and is pot committed at this point,\u201d said a Louisiana Republican strategist, granted anonymity to speak freely. \u201cIt\u2019s a gamble that could pay off big or drain his political capital.\u201d<\/p>\n The May 16 primary is likely headed to a run-off, and any combination of candidates may qualify. Polling shows Letlow<\/a> with a slight lead over Fleming, with Cassidy in third.<\/p>\n Getting Letlow to the finish line would be a huge boost for Landry in the eyes of the White House, which has set its sights on ousting Cassidy, who angered the MAGA base with his 2021 impeachment vote against the president. Still, the governor may not be the most compelling messenger himself: He\u2019s facing sinking approval ratings in Louisiana, dropping to 43 percent<\/a> in March, down from 58 percent the prior year. And his reputation as a highly transactional governor is exhausting other Republican leaders.<\/p>\n \u201cAll this is him thinking that he can rig certain outcomes as a toady for the President,\u201d said another GOP operative, who is unaffiliated with any of the Senate campaigns. The problem for Landry, the Republican said, is \u201cpeople in Louisiana are fiercely independent. They don’t want to be told what to do.\u201d<\/p>\n Landry and the White House did not respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n “This narrative is absurd,\u201d said Katherine Thordahl, Letlow campaign spokesperson. \u201cGovernor Landry is a friend and an ally, but he does not run Congresswoman Julia Letlow\u2019s campaign. This is yet another desperate attempt by Rep. Letlow\u2019s opponents to muddy the waters because they are losing this race.\u201d<\/p>\n Letlow was first elected to the House to fill the seat of her former husband, who died from Covid in 2020, days before being sworn in. She\u2019s the first woman to serve in Congress in Louisiana. And she has earned the backing of both Trump and the Make America Healthy Again movement, whose PAC has pledged $1 million in support, despite Cassidy\u2019s attempts to paint her as inadequately conservative for previously supporting diversity initiatives in higher education.<\/p>\n Her strongest supporter is Landry, a close ally of the White House who has moved further onto the national stage since becoming governor in 2024. Trump named him special envoy to Greenland last year, and he was one of the first Republican governors to welcome federal agents into their states when the U.S. Border Patrol was dispatched to New Orleans.<\/a><\/p>\n But in Louisiana, Republicans say Landry has created a culture of fear, with frequent comparisons to Huey Long, the former governor and populist political boss. Few are willing to speak out against him. \u201cOften people in his own party get punished more than the Democrats,\u201d said state Rep. Aimee Freeman, a Democrat.<\/p>\n Landry is known to bulldoze Republicans in the state legislature to get his priorities through \u2014 and readily punish detractors by wielding his line-item veto. Last year, he killed 16 spending projects<\/a> in districts held by GOP lawmakers who voted against his top legislative priority.<\/p>\n In another display of power, he chose to delay the state\u2019s House races from May 16 to mid-July following the Supreme Court\u2019s rejection of Louisiana\u2019s congressional map, sending the election system into chaos<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is unchecked power,\u201d said Daigle, the GOP parish chair, of Landry\u2019s decision to suspend House elections, which occurred after more than 42,000 ballots were cast<\/a>. \u201cWe are in what I would say is some dangerous territory here, constitutionally speaking.\u201d<\/p>\n Landry\u2019s GOP detractors in the state say the Senate race is just another example of Landry sharply wielding his bully pulpit, from his push to get big donors to back Letlow to blasting Cassidy at any opportunity.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n Landry was behind the decision in 2024 to change the state\u2019s electoral system, which used to combine all candidates into a single primary that any voter could participate in. The state now uses closed partisan primaries, which was seen as laying the groundwork for defeating Cassidy, given his unpopularity with the base. Cassidy must now win over those voters, who turn out in droves in primaries, without being able to rely on votes from Democrats and others who have padded his numbers in the past.<\/p>\n Cassidy\u2019s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n Letlow could use the boost: Her war chest amounts to less than a quarter of Cassidy\u2019s cash on hand. But her opponents have seized on Landry\u2019s involvement. Cassidy filed an FEC complaint<\/a> accusing Landry\u2019s top political fundraiser of campaign finance violations while approaching donors on behalf of Letlow. And Fleming has accused Landry of being behind millions<\/a> in negative advertisements going after his record on immigration and opposition to carbon sequestration, an issue that he has campaigned heavily on. Landry and Courtney Guastella, his top fundraiser, have not addressed the allegations publicly and didn\u2019t respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n Fleming, in an interview, said that voters \u201care just not buying\u201d the attacks against him, citing his standing in the race. He and Landry have clashed over his Senate run, and Fleming has accused the governor of blocking his attempts to reach out to the White House to speak with Trump about his campaign.<\/p>\n