Rep. Julia Letlow stays put in Louisiana congressional district

Redistricting altered the area U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow has represented for just one term, but the new boundaries didn’t prevent her from achieving an outright Election Day victory in Louisiana’s 5th Congressional District.

The Republican from the Monroe area was well in front of her two challengers — Republican Vinny Mendoza and Democrat Michael Vallien Jr. With votes still being counted Tuesday night, the Associated Press declared Letlow the winner with 63% of the vote.

Letlow’s northeast Louisiana-based district absorbed portions of Baton Rouge to help state lawmakers draw a new version of the 6th District, which went from a Republican-held seat to one giving a Black Democrat the best chance of winning. The adjustments are required to account for the state’s demographic changes in the decennial U.S. census. 

A plum seat on the budget-crafting House Committee on Appropriations currently belongs to Letlow, along with a spot on the Committee on Education and the Workforce.