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

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

. A Republican, he was elected to the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...

for in 2020, but died from complications caused by

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

five days before he was due to take office in the 117th Congress. Before his election to Congress, Letlow served as

chief of staff The title chief of staff (or head of staff) identifies the leader of a complex organization such as the armed forces, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a principal staff officer (PSO), who is the coordinator of the supportin ...

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, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections. A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...

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 * Track and field#Starts use in race, Starts use in sport race * S ...

, 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, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

in computer information systems from

Louisiana Tech University Louisiana Tech University (Louisiana Tech, La. Tech, or simply Tech) is a public university, public research university in Ruston, Louisiana, United States. It is part of the University of Louisiana System and Carnegie Classification of Institu ...

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 is an umbrella term that describes college and university students who support the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party of the United States. The College Republican National Committee (CRNC) is the oldest campus- ...

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

Career

Letlow worked for Bobby Jindal during Jindal's tenure in the

for Louisiana's 1st congressional district as his congressional district director from 2005 to 2008, and during Jindal's first term as

governor of Louisiana The governor of Louisiana (; ) is the chief executive of the U.S. state government of Louisiana. The governor also serves as the commander in chief of the Louisiana National Guard. Republican Jeff Landry has held the office since January 8, ...

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 List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

. 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 whereby a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold Public administration, public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative d ...

for Louisiana's 5th congressional district. He served as Abraham's

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 primary, top-two primary, or jungle primary is a primary election in which all candidates for the same elected office run against each other at once, regardless of political party. This distinguishes them from partisan primaries, w ...

on November 3, Letlow finished in first place with 33% of the vote, while State Representative Lance Harris, a fellow Republican, finished second with 17%. Letlow won the December 5

runoff election The two-round system (TRS or 2RS), sometimes called ballotage, top-two runoff, or two-round plurality, is a single-winner electoral system which aims to elect a member who has support of the majority of voters. The two-round system involves one ...

with 62% of the vote. The district is Louisiana's largest by area, covering most of 24 parishes, and includes

Alexandria Alexandria ( ; ) is the List of cities and towns in Egypt#Largest cities, second largest city in Egypt and the List of coastal settlements of the Mediterranean Sea, largest city on the Mediterranean coast. It lies at the western edge of the Nile ...

and Monroe, the population hubs, and Opelousas in

Acadiana Acadiana (; French language, French and Cajun French language, Louisiana French: ''L'Acadiane'' or ''Acadiane''), also known as Cajun Country (Cajun French language, Louisiana French: ''Pays des Cadiens''), is the official name given to the ...

and Bogalusa in the

Florida Parishes The Florida Parishes, 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. state of Louisiana. The Florida Parishes were part of what ...

. Despite the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, 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'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'', 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

. He was hospitalized in Monroe. After his condition deteriorated, he was transferred to the

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 intensive care medicine. An inten ...

(ICU) of Ochsner LSU Health Shreveport on December 23. On December 29, Letlow died from the virus at age 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 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 sal ...

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 Louisiana 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 Spouses of American politicians

Early life and education

Career

Personal life and death

See also

References

External links