BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) – U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow sat down with WAFB to discuss the Republican Senate Primary Runoff Election as early voting is underway.
Letlow graduated from the University of Louisiana Monroe with a bachelor’s degree in speech communications and earned her doctorate in philosophy from the University of South Florida in 2012. She served as director of education and patient safety for Tulane University’s School of Medicine in 2018 and was a finalist for president of ULM in 2020.
A video from her interview for that job in which she defended the university’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion policies served as some firepower for her opponents, earning her the label “Liberal Letlow”. Since then, she says her position on DEI has evolved.
“We didn’t really know what it was back then, and then once I witnessed it because I was in higher Ed, I witnessed the left completely hijack it,” Letlow said. “And turn it into something that was Marxist indoctrination of our children, holding people down instead of encouraging them to go achieve the American dream.”
Letlow said she has spent the last five and a half years in Congress fighting against DEI.
AI-generated video controversy
After the 2020 video was recorded, Letlow lost her husband, Congressman Luke Letlow, to COVID-19. She was then appointed to fill his seat in Congress. An artificially generated video of the congresswoman referencing her late husband was reposted by Fleming.
The video drew pushback from many Republicans in Louisiana, including Governor Jeff Landry.
“My first thoughts, of course, went to my children, and thinking about them possibly seeing that video one day just kind of breaks your heart. My family’s been through enough,” Letlow said. “I’ve shared with John Fleming, please stop going after my family members.”
When asked about PACs supporting her that have put out anti-Fleming AI videos, Letlow said she has no affiliation with PACs and is not a fan of AI in political campaigns. She would not commit to regulations on AI advertisements.
“It’s something we are gonna have to take a really hard look at moving forward or otherwise good people won’t run,” Letlow said.
Stock trade filing and campaign finance
Letlow and Fleming have sparred in recent weeks over campaign finance issues, including a late filing on the congresswoman’s stock trades that was referred to the House Ethics Committee.
“I have no direction over that portfolio, my advisor missed a deadline on that report, and when that was brought to my attention I quickly rectified that myself and it never happened again,” Letlow said.
She said Fleming admitted in a debate that he was still taking money from a federal lobby firm while serving as state treasurer.
“I just think that that is the height of untrustworthiness,” Letlow said.
Campaign priorities
Letlow is running a campaign driven largely by the Trump administration’s agenda.
“So we need a strong economy; everything that I do is gonna be fighting for our families. I want opportunity for our kids to not only choose to live here but thrive here,” Letlow said.
On carbon capture and sequestration, Letlow said she is against companies taking over private land for their projects through eminent domain.
“If it’s not safe, if it’s not transparent and it doesn’t have community buy-in, it should not move forward,” Letlow said.
She would not give a direct answer on whether she supports using tax dollars to pay for carbon capture projects through 45Q tax credits.
“It was included in the One Big Beautiful Bill; my question to John Fleming is, would you have voted ‘No’ on the OBBB?” Letlow said.
When pressed on whether taxpayers should pay for the projects, she said she would need to listen to her constituents more on how they feel about it.
Letlow said she supports getting rid of the Senate filibuster to allow Republicans to pass the SAVE Act without Democrat votes. The bill would require voter ID across the country.
When asked if she was concerned that Democrats could use the same tactic when they take power, Letlow said she is convinced they will eliminate the filibuster when they get back in charge.
“Do it,” Letlow said.
Click here to report a typo. Please include the headline.
Click here to subscribe to our WAFB 9 News daily digest and breaking news alerts delivered straight to your email inbox.
Watch the latest WAFB news and weather now.