Luke Joshua Letlow (December 6, 1979 – December 29, 2020) was an American businessman and politician from

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a U.S. state, state in the Deep South and South Central United States, South Central regions of the United States. It is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 20th-smal ...

. A Republican, he was elected to the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together the ...

for in 2020 but died from complications caused by

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickl ...

five days before he was due to take office in the 117th Congress. Before his election to Congress, Letlow served as chief of staff to Representative Ralph Abraham. Three months after his death, Letlow's widow Julia was elected to the vacant seat in a

special election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

Early life and education

Letlow was raised in the unincorporated community of

Start Start can refer to multiple topics: *Takeoff, the phase of flight where an aircraft transitions from moving along the ground to flying through the air * Starting lineup in sports * Standing start, and rolling start, in an auto race Acronyms * ...

, east of Monroe, and was the youngest son of Dianne and Johnny Letlow. He graduated from Ouachita Christian High School and earned a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University o ...

in computer information systems from

Louisiana Tech University Louisiana Tech University (Louisiana Tech, La. Tech, or simply Tech) is a public research university in Ruston, Louisiana. It is part of the University of Louisiana System and classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activ ...

in 2003. As a student at Louisiana Tech, Letlow was an intern for John Cooksey in 2000 when Cooksey represented in the

. He served as chairman of the Louisiana Tech

College Republicans College Republicans are college and university students who support the Republican Party of the United States. Many members belong to the organization College Republican National Committee (CRNC), College Republicans United (CRU), or various inde ...

in 2001 and of the Louisiana Federation of College Republicans in 2002.

Career

Letlow worked for

Bobby Jindal Piyush "Bobby" Jindal (born June 10, 1971) is an American politician who served as the 55th Governor of Louisiana from 2008 to 2016. The only living former Louisiana governor, Jindal also served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives ...

during Jindal's tenure in the

for

Louisiana's 1st congressional district Louisiana's 1st congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The district comprises land from the northern shore of Lake Pontchartrain south to the Mississippi River delta. It covers most of New Orleans' sub ...

as his congressional district director from 2005 to 2008, and during Jindal's first term as governor of Louisiana as director of intergovernmental affairs from 2008 to 2010. He then worked as director of government and community affairs for QEP Resources, an energy company based in

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the United ...

. Letlow returned to Louisiana in 2014 to serve as campaign manager for Ralph Abraham during his

election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has opera ...

for Louisiana's 5th congressional district. He served as Abraham's chief of staff during his three-term tenure. On March 9, 2020, after Abraham honored his pledge not to serve more than three terms, Letlow announced his candidacy. Abraham publicly endorsed him concurrent with Letlow's announcement. In the

nonpartisan blanket primary A nonpartisan blanket primary is a primary election in which all candidates for the same elected office run against each other at once, regardless of the political party. Partisan elections are, on the other hand, segregated by political party. ...

on November 3, Letlow finished in first place with 33% of the vote, while State Representative

Lance Harris John Lance Harris (born June 11, 1961) is an American businessman and politician from Alexandria, Louisiana. He is a Republican Party (United States), Republican member of the Louisiana House of Representatives for District 25 in Rapides Parish, ...

, a fellow Republican, finished second with 17%. Letlow won the December 5 runoff election with 62% of the vote. The district is Louisiana's largest by area, covering most of 24 parishes, and includes

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandr ...

and Monroe, the population hubs, and

Opelousas :''Opelousas is also a common name of the flathead catfish.'' Opelousas (french: Les Opélousas; Spanish: ''Los Opeluzás'') is a small city and the parish seat of St. Landry Parish, Louisiana, United States. Interstate 49 and U.S. Route 190 ...

in Acadiana and

Bogalusa Bogalusa is a city in Washington Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 12,232 at the 2010 census. In th2020 censusthe city, town, place equivalent reported a population of 10,659. It is the principal city of the Bogalusa Micropolit ...

in the

Florida Parishes The Florida Parishes ( es, Parroquias de Florida, french: Paroisses de Floride), on the east side of the Mississippi River—an area also known as the Northshore or Northlake region—are eight parishes in the southeastern portion of the U.S. sta ...

. Despite the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

, Letlow wore a mask only sporadically during his campaign, and was photographed speaking indoors to constituents when masks were not being worn by him or those gathered.Luke Letlow, GOP congressman-elect from Louisiana, dies of covid-19
''

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large na ...

'', Tim Elfrink, December 29, 2020. Retrieved January 1, 2021. In October, he had encouraged Louisiana officials to relax pandemic restrictions, warning, "We're now at a place if we do not open our economy, we’re in real danger."

Personal life and death

Letlow lived in Start, Louisiana, with his wife, Julia, and their two young children. On December 18, 2020, Letlow announced that he had tested positive for

during the COVID-19 pandemic in Louisiana. He was hospitalized in Monroe. After his condition deteriorated, he was transferred to the

intensive care unit 220px, Intensive care unit An intensive care unit (ICU), also known as an intensive therapy unit or intensive treatment unit (ITU) or critical care unit (CCU), is a special department of a hospital or health care facility that provides intensi ...

(ICU) of

Ochsner LSU Health Shreveport Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center Shreveport (LSU Health Shreveport) is a public university focused on the health sciences and located in Shreveport, Louisiana. It is part of the LSU System and is composed of three different schoo ...

on December 23. On December 29, Letlow died from the virus at the age of 41. The hospital reported that he had no underlying conditions when admitted but died in the ICU after suffering a "cardiac event" and could not be resuscitated. Louisiana Governor

John Bel Edwards John Bel Edwards (born September 16, 1966) is an American politician and attorney serving as the 56th governor of Louisiana since 2016. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the Democratic leader of the Louisiana House of ...

ordered flags in the state to be flown at

half-staff Half-mast or half-staff (American English) refers to a flag flying below the summit of a ship mast, a pole on land, or a pole on a building. In many countries this is seen as a symbol of respect, mourning, distress, or, in some cases, a salu ...

on the day of Letlow's funeral. He also scheduled the

to fill Letlow's vacancy for March 20, 2021, with an April runoff if needed. His widow Julia Letlow ran in the special election, and won, avoiding a runoff.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Letlow, Luke 1979 births 2020 deaths 21st-century American politicians Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in Louisiana Elected officials who died without taking their seats Louisiana Republicans Louisiana Tech University alumni People from Richland Parish, Louisiana Political chiefs of staff Politicians from Monroe, Louisiana United States congressional aides

Early life and education

Career

Personal life and death

See also

References

External links