Thanks to Richard Winger of Ballot Access News for this post.

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards (D) will call a Special Election on March 20th to fill the 5th Congressional District Seat of the late Luke Letlow, who died Tuesday from COVID-19 Complications.

Letlow, 41, had been Elected to Replace Incumbent Congressman, Ralph Abraham, (R-Alto), who didn't seek Re-Election to honor a Three-Term Limit Pledge he made in 2014.

The Special Election will likely be Combined with a 2nd Congressional District Election to Replace outgoing U.S. Rep. Cedric Richmond (D-2nd District, New Orleans), who will Vacate his Seat to Join the Leadership Team of President-Elect Joe Biden as the Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement.

The Special Elections for Congress would coincide with already Scheduled Spring Elections on March 20th with Candidates Qualifying Jan. 20-22, for the Primary and April 24th for a possible Runoff.

Until then the 5th Congressional District will be without a Representative once Abraham's Term Expires and the New Congress is Sworn-In on Jan. 3rd.

Abraham said he is exploring Options to keep some 5th District Staff in place without him to serve Constituents until the Election. "We're seeing if there may be some kind of special waiver," Abraham said. "We can't leave the constituents high and dry."

Abraham said he won't Reverse Course and seek another Term. "No, I don't think that's on my radar," he said, while Conceding some People have asked him to do so.

Letlow died Tuesday at Ochsner LSU Health in Shreveport from a Heart Attack following a Procedure to Remove a Blood Clot as a Complication of COVID-19. He had been in the Shreveport Hospital's Intensive Care Unit since Dec. 23rd.

Letlow, who had been Abraham's Chief of Staff, Won the 5th Congressional District Seat with 62% of the Vote Dec. 5th in a Runoff Election against Sate Rep. Lance Harris (R-25th District, Alexandria).

Louisiana's 5th District is the Largest Geographically in the State covering 24 Parishes. Alexandria and Monroe are the Population Hubs, but the Boundaries dip into Acadiana to take in Opelousas and into the Florida Parishes to take in Bogalusa.










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