Julia Letlow

U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow’s bid to become the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate kicked off in January not with her own announcement, but with a social media post from President Donald Trump.

Saturday night, as she claimed her spot in the fall general election, Letlow started her victory speech off by thanking Trump for recruiting her into the race — and, for good measure, calling him “the greatest president this country has ever had.”

And thus primary season ended as it began, as a case study in just how nationalized our politics have become.

The months of campaigning among GOP hopefuls — including incumbent and third-place primary finisher Bill Cassidy, who Trump never forgave for his 2021 vote to convict for inciting the Jan. 6 attack on Congress, and state Treasurer John Fleming, Letlow’s runoff opponent — amounted to little more than a contest to prove who was the most loyal.

Campaigns are often unserious, but this one was especially so, with misleading accusations flying about who was more woke, even if woke was nowhere on the GOP ballot. Other than Fleming’s attempt to inject carbon capture politics into the conversation, the campaign could have happened in any state with a large pro-Trump base and a party primary system that amplified that base’s overall voting power.

In Louisiana, this was a significant change; it was the first party primary for Congress since the late 1990s, when a previous shift from open primaries was so unpopular that it was quickly reversed. That may well happen this time too.

In the meantime, it worked as its proponents intended.

Gov. Jeff Landry, an eager Trump disciple, was the lead architect of the new voting rules, and he was all over Letlow’s campaign. Most other members of the party establishment lined up with her too, including Attorney General Liz Murrill and several fellow members of Congress. Trump may be the greatest disruptor in modern American politics, but the GOP’s supposed institutionalists here, like elsewhere, are fully on board.

And with all voters no longer able to choose among all candidates, the turnout was relatively select. Only registered Republicans and no-party voters could participate in the two-stage GOP selection process, and not that many did. Letlow won the runoff Saturday night with support from roughly 180,000 votes, out of about 1.8 million who were eligible to take part.

There was a Democratic primary runoff too, and farmer Jamie Davis easily won that one, so he’ll be Letlow’s general election opponent in a November midterm election that shaping up as a national referendum on the second Trump presidency. In Louisiana, that and overall voting patterns give Letlow a massive edge.

She doesn’t really need to, but It would be nice if she spent the next four months putting herself out there and trying to build a broader coalition than the MAGA-dominated one that got her here. She could try to counter arguments that she’s indebted to Trump and Landry, as even some influential Republicans such as radio hosts Moon Griffon and Newell Normand have charged. She could expound on what she means when she says she’ll always put Louisiana first. She could even agree to a television debate, something she avoided during primary season.

The truth is that if she wins come fall, there will be plenty time for her to move from under Trump’s shadow. He’s got just two years left; a Senate term runs six, and Letlow, at 45, could be in Washington much longer. At some point she’ll answer to more than one person, or even 180,000 of them.

Now’s as good a time as any to get started.