A special election will be held in March to fill the now vacant 5th Congressional District seat left open after the passing of Congressman-elect Luke Letlow from COVID last week.
ULM Political Science Professor Dr. Joshua Stockley said Alexandria lawmaker Lance Harris, who took second place in the 5th District runoff on December 5th, has to be seriously considering a second run.
“Should Lance Harris run again I think at first glance he would be a favorite among the Republicans,” said Stockley. Last week Harris would not comment on whether he was considering another campaign, saying it was too early to be discussing that question so close to Letlow’s passing.
Another potential favorite would be former Congressman Ralph Abraham, should he want to return to the seat he just retired from. Abraham and Letlow were very close and Letlow seemingly won the seat on a campaign as Abraham’s heir-apparent.
Ouachita Police Juror Scotty Robinson, who received the third most votes of any Republican in the November 3rd primary, is also a potential contender for the seat.
Stockley said it’s hard to pinpoint another likely competitive candidate for the seat outside of Harris or Abraham.
“It could be an individual who worked with Luke Letlow for a period of time and feels the need to carry out his legacy, or it could be a currently elected official,” said Stockley.
Stockley said the problem for any new candidate is they’ll only have two months to run up enough name recognition to win in the state’s largest and advertising inefficient district.
“Someone has to consider how quickly they can canvass a large geographical district that involves multiple multimedia overlaps,” said Stockley.
Letlow’s funeral was held Saturday in Monroe. He was set to be sworn in Sunday. Flags were ordered to be flown at half-staff throughout the state over the weekend.
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