“I think it’s time to go to the hospital,” Luke Letlow told his wife, after he struggled to breathe. He was a Congressman-elect, days away from being sworn in. He never took the oath.
His widow, Republican Rep. Julia Letlow, has now won Louisiana’s Republican primary runoff for the U.S. Senate, putting her on course to replace Sen. Bill Cassidy in November. She also announced she is engaged to Kevin Ainsworth, a Baton Rouge lawyer and lobbyist.
How Luke Letlow died
Luke Letlow won Louisiana’s 5th Congressional District seat in November 2020. According to CBS News, he caught COVID-19 shortly before Christmas and was admitted to hospital with severe COVID pneumonia. He had no known underlying health conditions, yet he got worse quickly.
Julia Letlow told CBS News in 2021 that doctors found about half of his lungs were affected. After several days he was put on a ventilator. He died on December 29, 2020, aged 41. Political leaders from both parties paid tribute, and his was one of the most high-profile COVID-related deaths of the pandemic.
From widow to congresswoman
Julia Letlow has said she never planned to run for office. She entered the 2021 special election to finish what she described as the work Luke had hoped to do, and won with about 65 per cent of the vote. She became the first Republican woman Louisiana sent to the U.S. House.
Before politics she worked in higher education, in leadership and teaching roles at the University of Louisiana Monroe, Tulane University School of Medicine and the University of South Florida. She has two children, Jacqueline and Jeremiah.
The engagement
Letlow made the engagement public at a White House Christmas event. “What a blessing it will be to spend the rest of my life with Kevin Ainsworth,” she wrote on Instagram. “The best White House Christmas/Engagement party ever.”
According to reports, Ainsworth proposed privately. President Donald Trump later called the couple onto the stage and asked to see the ring. “That’s a big deal, that transcends politics,” Trump said.
Ainsworth is a partner at Jones Walker, where he co-leads the firm’s state government relations practice. His clients have included Amazon, American Express and Cargill. The couple have appeared together at political events across her district since Letlow moved to Baton Rouge with her children earlier this year.
The runoff
On Saturday Letlow beat Louisiana State Treasurer John Fleming in the runoff, after Trump endorsed her. In a Truth Social post before the vote he called her “a TOTAL WINNER.”
Cassidy was already out. He failed to advance past the primary after facing criticism from Trump supporters for voting to convict Trump in the 2021 impeachment trial. Louisiana is considered a reliably Republican state, and Letlow is widely expected to go into the general election as the favourite.
