By: Greg LaRose | Louisiana Illuminator
Gov. Jeff Landry jabbed back Thursday at state Treasurer John Fleming, who accused the state leader — and a fellow Republican — of meddling in Louisiana’s U.S. Senate race to influence President Donald Trump’s endorsement.
After he qualified for the Senate race Wednesday, Fleming told reporters Landry was responsible for getting Trump to back one of his opponents, U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow, R-Baton Rouge. She announced she would challenge U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-Baton Rouge, last month within a few days of Trump urging her to run in a social media post.
“Jeff Landry has been working on this endorsement over a year,” Fleming told reporters after he qualified. “I’ve heard about it from a number of people.”
The treasurer said his sources, who he wouldn’t name, told him Landry orchestrated the president’s support for Letlow so that the governor could “rearrange the chairs on the deck” to make his own run for U.S. Senate once he leaves state office.
The governor issued a brief statement Thursday, saying Fleming’s claims are fabricated.
“Anyone who makes stuff up like that may not be fit for office,” Landry said through his spokeswoman.
The Letlow campaign has yet to respond to a request for comment on the treasurer’s remarks. She and Cassidy are expected to officially qualify Friday for the May 16 GOP primary.
Landry’s allegiance in the U.S. Senate race isn’t yet clear.
He stopped short of endorsing Letlow when asked about her candidacy last month. He accompanied Attorney General Liz Murrill after she argued for Louisiana’s Ten Commandments law in front of the full 5th Circuit Court of Appeal, and both were asked for their reaction to Letlow’s entry into the race. Murrill said Letlow “would make a fine U.S. senator,” and Landry said only that he agreed with the attorney general’s assessment.
State Rep. Michael Echols, R-Monroe, who qualified for the U.S. Senate race Thursday, said he expected Landry to “sit on the sidelines” and perhaps back a candidate in the GOP runoff in June. Echols, who chairs the Louisiana Legislative Republican Delegation, said he and the governor speak frequently but have not discussed an endorsement.
U.S. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, who also qualified for reelection Thursday, said he was “focusing on his own race” when asked whether he would make an endorsement in the Senate race or the 5th Congressional District seat that Letlow is vacating.
Trump’s endorsed candidate in the 5th District field has found himself publicly at odds with Landry.
State Sen. Blake Miguez, R-New Iberia, received the president’s backing in the 5th District U.S. House election, but the governor blasted Miguez last year for opposing his proposals to rework Louisiana’s tax structure.
Echols said he talked to Landry after Trump endorsed Miguez, and Echols said the governor told him he was surprised by the president’s endorsement in the race.