Pro-Letlow super PACs dump $1.3M into Louisiana Senate contest ahead of Election Day
By Blake Paterson • November 2, 2026
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Election Day is Tuesday and all eyes are on Louisiana’s Senate contest.
The once-sleepy race to replace U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy has garnered national attention in recent days, after a surge in early voting among Black voters bolstered Democrats’ hopes of competing across the Deep South.
Republican Congresswoman Julia Letlow is still favored to beat Democrat Jamie Davis, a farmer and one-time Tensas Parish police juror, according to political forecasters. But the race is tighter than initially expected.
As the campaign enters its final hours, I wanted to take a deeper look at the outside money that’s pouring into the race.
GOP Congresswoman Julia Letlow (left) and Democrat Jamie Davis (right)
Since early voting began Oct. 20, pro-Letlow super PACs have spent more than $1.3 million on political advertising to support her candidacy, according to the most recent filings with the Federal Election Commission.
Davis, meanwhile, hasn’t received support from any super PACs. (The PACs cannot coordinate with candidates on spending.)
On Saturday, the Senate Leadership Fund, the main Senate GOP super PAC, entered the fray for Letlow, spending $8,400 on text messages. (As the New York Times’ Theodore Schleifer noted, it’s “a paltry sum, but it’s telling that this race is seeing any spending at all.”)
Great Opportunity PAC, Inc., aligned with South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, spent $56,000 on Friday on text messages and “website services.”
By far, the biggest spender has been Accountability Project Inc, which released an AI-generated ad last Wednesday attacking Davis and has since spent more than $1 million pushing it out to voters. The PAC is run by conservative political operatives Jay Connaughton and Jason Hebert. (You can peruse its donors here.)
Save American Freedom, another Republican-aligned super PAC, dropped $100,000 on Friday for text messages and digital advertising in support of Letlow, after spending $100,000 at the start of early voting.
The PAC’s biggest contributor is Commonsense Policy in Action, a Lafayette-based nonprofit which has donated $790,000 to the super PAC since March and is run by Louisiana-based political operatives Jason Harbison and Don Caffery and Georgia operative Bobby Saparow. (The nonprofit’s donors are not public record.)
Save American Freedom also received $100,000 from Konstantin Sokolov, a Russian-American businessman and major Trump donor, and $37,000 from New York Congresswoman Elise Stefanik’s E-PAC.
Yet-to-be-disclosed spending
The full scope of outside spending in Louisiana’s Senate contest won’t be clear until Dec. 3, when PACs controlled by politicians like Sen. John Kennedy will be required to disclose their expenditures.
On Saturday, Kennedy’s Common Sense for America PAC texted me a video urging me to vote for Letlow.
“You can trust Julia Letlow,” Kennedy says in the clip. “She’s tough as a pine knot. She’s tough as a three-dollar steak. Julia Letlow votes for Louisiana and works for Louisiana every single day. We need Julia Letlow in the United States Senate.”
We also won’t find out until December how much Letlow and Davis raised and spent in the final weeks of the campaign. As of Oct. 14, Letlow had $443,000 in cash on hand and Davis had $1.25 million.
Get Out the vote
As is always the case, the race will come down to turnout.
Davis is spending the final day of the campaign in Northeast Louisiana, with an 8 a.m. breakfast in Winnsboro, 10 a.m. rally at the Monroe Civic Center and meet and greets in West Monroe, Jackson Parish and Union Parish. “Come out, meet Jamie, and be part of the conversation,” the Davis campaign posted on social media. Davis also held a virtual “Reel It In on Election Eve!” rally for supporters at 4 p.m.
Letlow, who has shied away from hosting public campaign events, didn’t publicize any in-person events. (Her campaign posted a video Monday of Gov. Jeff Landry urging voters to turn out for Letlow.)
On Monday night, Letlow will appear alongside Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson at a virtual tele-rally. (The Letlow campaign said it would release more information later today on how to attend.)
While I was sitting on my porch in Mid-City New Orleans on Monday finishing today’s newsletter, three separate volunteers from Davis’ grassroots campaign strolled by.
“It’s getting giddily close,” said volunteer Antonio Garza, carrying a stack of push cards and using a mobile app from the Davis campaign to determine which voters to target.
Ten minutes later, another volunteer, Catch Patton, walked by. The 75-year-old Gentilly resident said this was the first campaign she’s ever worked on.
Catch Patton canvassing for Davis in Mid City New Orleans on Monday
“We have a shot to elect someone that will improve people’s lives in Louisiana,” Patton said.
About an hour after that, a third volunteer strolled by. She was in a rush to hit 20 more houses in the next half hour and asked not to be named.
Democrats’ hopes of an upset victory were buoyed on Friday, when the Davis campaign released a poll of 502 likely voters showing Davis tied with Letlow at 45%, with a margin of error of 4.5 percentage points.
On Sunday, the Louisiana Democratic Party released another poll showing Davis in a dead heat with Letlow. (The party didn’t say how many voters were polled or the margin of error, so take it with a grain of salt.)
“We have an extraordinary opportunity in front of us, but we cannot take a single vote for granted,” Randal Gaines, chair of the Louisiana Democratic Party, said in a press release Sunday. “We are calling on every eligible Louisiana voter to make a plan to vote and make their voice heard.”
Democrats further down the ballot are also seeking to capitalize on the excitement around the Senate race. Lindsay “Rubia” Garcia, a Democrat running in the newly drawn 6th Congressional District, is hosting a “Let Go Letlow” rally Monday night at the Louisiana Democratic Party Headquarters in Baton Rouge.
The polls in Louisiana will be open on Tuesday from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. Letlow plans to watch election returns from a private party in Monroe. Davis has invited the public to join him at a watch party at the Hilton in downtown Baton Rouge.
I can’t make it to Monroe, so I’ll be following the returns from Davis’ event in Baton Rouge. After registering for the event, I received an automated text message from the Davis campaign asking me to “bring a few friends.”
More news to start your week
It’s never a dull moment in Kenner politics. Last week, Natalie Newton, a top aide to Kenner Mayor Michael Glaser sued City Council members Joe Stagni, Joey LaHatte, Tom Willmott and Daniel Riehm, alleging they violated open meetings law when they sent a letter to New Orleans Mayor Helena Moreno listing three nominees — previously vetoed by Glaser— for the board overseeing the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport. LaHatte told The Times-Picayune that he expects the council to hold a no-confidence vote against Newton, who filed the suit in her personal capacity alongside her husband. Glaser, for his part, hasn’t lost faith in Newton. On Thursday, he promoted her to chief administrative officer, replacing Jose Gonzales, who is moving to a part-time position coordinating capital projects. (The nominee Moreno selected from the list, criminal defense attorney and chair of the Jefferson Parish Democratic Executive Committee Barry Ranshi, was sworn in last month.)
The New Orleans City Council will decide Thursday whether to approve Moreno’s proposal to increase property tax collections by $21.5 million to cover the costs of the Low Barrier Shelter, Right to Counsel program, grass cutting, NOPD traffic incident response and other services. The city published a calculator online that allows property owners to estimate the effect it will have on their tax bill. The move requires a two-thirds council vote. The public hearing kicks off at 10 a.m. at 1300 Perdido St.
New Orleans needs to provide a dashboard, like one in Cincinnati, that breaks down department spending to the line item if it wants to rebuild trust with residents, Nellie Catzen, executive director of the Committee for a Better New Orleans, argued in The Lens last week.
FRIDAY INBOX: “Leaders at the State of Louisiana, the City of New Orleans, and Jefferson Parish have signed a Cooperative Endeavor Agreement to proceed with the development of the West End park area facing west on Lake Pontchartrain’s shoreline. For the first time since Hurricane Katrina, leaders hope the area directly across from the 17th Street Canal will again be a vibrant gathering place for residents and visitors as the process to select a developer for the site advances.”
Every Sunday, Perdido Street publishes a calendar of meetings and events across metro New Orleans for the coming week.
Is there an event you want included on a future calendar? Email me at [email protected].
