Early voting in the 5th Congressional District special election primary to replace Luke Letlow, who died last year of COVID, begins Saturday.
ULM Political Science Professor Joshua Stockley said Letlow’s wife Julia, a Republican, remains the prohibitive favorite.
“She has money, name recognition, the legacy of her husband, and party demographics on her side,” said Stockley.
Julia Letlow has a Ph.D. in communications from the University of South Florida, a Bachelors from ULM, and has held administrative positions at Tulane, ULM and South Florida. She currently lives in Start with her two children.
Election Day for the primary is March 20th and if no candidate wins over 50 percent of the vote a runoff will be held on April 24th. Stockley seriously doubted this will go to a runoff but noted in off-year special elections low turnout can produce unexpected results.
Besides Letlow 11 other candidates are signed up for the 5th headlined by Democrat Sandra Christophe. Democratic candidates combined for about a third of the vote in last year’s election.
Stockley said Dr. Letlow might be new to politics as a candidate but she is not new to politics as a participant and has impressed on the campaign trail.
“She is a polished speaker, she is very likable and friendly, so I think she has done very well,” said Stockley.
Voters in the 2nd Congressional District can also begin casting ballots in their special election race Saturday.
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