Wife of Rep.-Elect on Running for Seat He Won: ‘He Would Be So Proud’

Julia Letlow, candidate for Louisiana USA 5th congressional district, on Jan. 14, 2021. (Courtesy of Julia Letlow for Congress)

Republican congressional candidate Julia Letlow said she felt she should run for the seat that her late husband Rep.-elect Luke Letlow (R-La.) won last year before dying from what was believed to be COVID-19-related complications.

“I hear him very clearly in my head saying he would be so proud of me as I move forward,” Letlow said Friday on “Fox & Friends.”

Letlow said she and her husband were a team and “have been in lockstep with each other” for eight years.

She recounted how he would always share with her what unfolded over each day when returning home and added that both she and her husband had a heart for public service.

“I knew and he always encouraged me if the opportunity ever arose for me to serve that I would take that opportunity,” she said. Among those who encouraged her were former Rep. Ralph Abraham (R-La.), who Luke Letlow was a staffer for, and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.).

Luke Letlow, 41, passed away in December 2020 from a heart attack, the doctor in charge of the hospital where he was being treated confirmed. “Congressman-elect Luke Letlow ultimately died from complications of COVID-19. His immediate death due to a heart attack is likely related to thromboembolic phenomena caused by COVID-19,” Dr. G. E. Ghali, chancellor of LSU Health Shreveport, told The Epoch Times in an email.

COVID-19 is the disease caused by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus.

Luke Letlow’s family said in an obituary that his death was from complications due to COVID-19.

Luke Letlow had won a special election for the seat representing Louisiana’s 5th Congressional District.

Julia Letlow announced earlier this month that she would run for the seat.

“Everything in my life and in my marriage has prepared me for this moment. My motivation is the passion Luke and I both shared: to better this region that we called home and to leave it a better place for our children and future generations,” she said in the statement. “I am running to continue the mission Luke started—to stand up for our Christian values, to fight for our rural agricultural communities, and to deliver real results to move our state forward.”

The election will take place on March 20. Letlow is the only candidate who has declared so far.