Julia Letlow

President Donald Trump’s endorsement of U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow has yet to help her close the money gap with the man she is trying to unseat, U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy.

Fundraising figures released this week in Louisiana’s hotly contested Senate Republican primary show that Cassidy and a super PAC supporting him raised more money than Letlow or state Treasurer John Fleming, the other major Republican candidate, during the first three months of 2026.

As of April 1, Cassidy also had millions of dollars more in the bank than either Letlow or Fleming, the figures showed.

What’s not clear is whether Cassidy’s money advantage will guarantee him a first or second place finish in the May 16 primary and a spot in the June 27 party runoff. Independent polls have shown the three candidates bunched closely together.

Independent polls also have shown Cassidy trailing both Letlow and Fleming in head-to-head match-ups, an unenviable position for a two-term incumbent. Cassidy is weighed down by having more voters view him unfavorably than favorably.

Cassidy has yet to break clear of his two opponents even though he and his supporters have bombarded the airwaves. They have spent $17.4 million on advertising, compared to only $5 million for Letlow and $680,000 for Fleming, according to AdImpact, a media tracking firm in Virginia.

Fleming has remained competitive in polls even though he is barely raising any money and spent much less on advertising.

The winner of the Republican runoff will face the Democratic nominee in November.

The three Democratic candidates are Nick Albares, Jamie Davis and Gary Crockett. They also will compete in their own primary on May 16 and a party runoff on June 27 if no candidate wins more than 50% of the vote in the primary.

Albares, Davis and Crockett will engage in their first debate Tuesday night at Southern University. Bayou Progressive is organizing the event and will livestream it.

By the numbers

Cassidy’s fund-raising advantage stems from his position as chair of the Senate health committee and as Louisiana’s senior senator.

The latest campaign finance report shows that the Cassidy for Senate account raised $770,000 during the first quarter, while three other groups associated with him – the Cassidy Leadership Fund, the Continuing America’s Strength & Security PAC and Louisiana Victory and the National Republican Senatorial Committee – raised an additional $1.8 million.

The $2.5 million was more than the $1.9 million collected by Letlow. Of her $1.9 million, Letlow for Louisiana raised $660,000 and the Letlow Victory Fund and the Hope in Action PAC collected an additional $1.3 million.

Fleming raised only $45,000.

Cassidy reported having $7.2 million on hand as of April 1, compared to $2.7 million for Letlow and $2.1 million for Fleming.

But the Fleming figure comes with an asterisk, according to Letlow’s campaign.

On Dec. 23, Fleming loaned $2 million to his campaign, which allowed him to show a healthy amount of money on hand when he reported his fundraising figures through Dec. 31.

But the latest report shows that Fleming repaid himself $1.87 million of that on Jan. 5. He then loaned the campaign another $2 million on March 25. Without that money, his campaign would have reported virtually no cash on hand in the latest campaign filing report.

“The scheme is now obvious: Fleming writes himself a check at the end of the quarter to boost his numbers, then pays himself right back,” Letlow’s campaign said.

Not so, Fleming said in an interview.

He said he pulls the money out of his campaign account so he can invest it and earn a higher return on the money before re-loaning it.

“All I’m doing is being a prudent investor to make sure the money is working for me,” Fleming said.

Meanwhile, Cassidy’s super PAC, the Louisiana Freedom Fund, reported raising nearly $6 million. The Letlow campaign said outside groups supporting her raised $3.8 million.

State of the race

Cassidy hoped to have even more cash, but the National Republican Senatorial Committee rejected that plea in a tense phone call, according to a report last week in Punchbowl News, a Washington, D.C. website.

In a call with reporters Tuesday, Cassidy said the website’s report was “not accurate” but would not explain how or why.

Fund-raising numbers are closely watched by political pros as a measure of a candidate’s electability.

On the Republican side, each of the three campaigns is saying that the others are using accounting tricks to inflate their numbers.

The Cassidy and Letlow campaigns generated positive coverage in different conservative publications on Wednesday by giving them an exclusive look at their fund-raising numbers, in the Washington Examiner for Cassidy and The Daily Caller for Letlow.

The Letlow campaign said Letlow had a “massive” fund-raising haul in the first quarter, especially since she joined the race on Jan. 19 and had only 70 days to collect money.

“Julia is backed by President Trump and the people of Louisiana,” the Letlow campaign said in a statement. “Cassidy’s campaign is being bankrolled by out-of-state donors and special interest groups.”

Cassidy held a Zoom call with reporters Thursday where he noted the primary would be held in exactly one month. He repeated his previous calls for Democrats who have been voting for Republicans to re-register as no party or Republican to be able to vote in the Republican primary. They can do that online until April 25.

Cassidy also noted that Louisiana Public Broadcasting had sought to hold a statewide televised debate among the three Republicans on Thursday night, but the event was canceled because Letlow declined to participate.

Cassidy said he believes that Letlow does not want “to defend not having a single bill signed into law since she’s been in the House of Representatives for six years or opposing things like the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act that has brought $13.5 billion” [to Louisiana].

Letlow joined most Republicans in opposing President Joe Biden’s initiative.

Letlow and Fleming have agreed to a debate on May 5 on the program of conservative radio talk show host Moon Griffon, who regularly blasts Cassidy. The senator has declined to participate in the debate.

Because Trump backs Letlow, of course, he could tap into his enormous war chest to provide her all the money she needs for the final stretch of the primary election. Or he could raise big dollars for her during a visit to Louisiana.

With less money for advertising, Fleming has mostly been on the sidelines in the race while Cassidy attacks Letlow, and she counterattacks. But two outside groups began hitting Fleming last week, one a pro-Letlow super PAC associated with Gov. Jeff Landry known as the Accountability Project. Landry is backing the congresswoman.