Fleming in more hot water with state Republicans over latest ad
By Nolan Mckendry | The Center Square
(The Center Square) — A political attack ad by State Treasurer John Fleming against U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow has drawn criticism from some of Louisiana’s most prominent Republicans in the final stretch of the state’s U.S. Senate runoff.
Fleming, already running without the endorsement of President Donald Trump or Gov. Jeff Landry, is now facing public criticism from U.S. Reps. Steve Scalise and Clay Higgins over a video he posted to X, formerly Twitter, that appears to use artificial intelligence to attack Letlow and reference her late husband, Luke Letlow.
The video depicts a fake version of Letlow saying she was “appointed” to Congress after the death of her husband, Luke Letlow.
“John Fleming was caught lying about me, again,” Letlow wrote after the video was posted. “He cannot win on the truth, so he keeps lying.”
The backlash has come from Gov. Jeff Landry, U.S. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, U.S. Rep. Clay Higgins and Attorney General Liz Murrill, who have all publicly criticized Fleming over the video or called for it to be removed.
Higgins gave Fleming until Wednesday at 3 p.m. to “remove the post, divorce yourself from those who created the appalling video and apologize to Ms. Letlow and her children.” If Fleming refuses, Higgins said he “will step into the arena in chivalrous support of Ms. Letlow and her children.”
Landry said there are “lines that simply shouldn’t be crossed,” including “invoking the loss of a spouse for political purposes.”
Murrill called Fleming’s use of the AI video to smear Luke Letlow’s memory “shameful.”
With incumbent Sen. Bill Cassidy eliminated from the race, Fleming and Letlow are competing for the roughly 97,000 votes Cassidy received in the primary.
Fleming has persisted in his attacks on Letlow’s conservative credentials, pointing to her past support for diversity, equity and inclusion policies.
While Letlow has generally led in polls, has the big name endorsements and more money, Fleming shouldn’t be counted out. He has a long standing relationship with President Trump, as well as the endorsements of several local Republican committees, including Caddo, Lafayette, St. Tammany, East Baton Rouge, Vernon and Franklin parish GOP organizations.
Fleming might have had the endorsement of the Louisiana Republican Party, but on Saturday the party’s central committee voted not to endorse any candidate.
Gender attitudes have also surfaced in Louisiana polling. A 2024 Tulane University survey found that 18% of Louisiana men and 9% of Louisiana women agreed that “on the whole, men make better political leaders than women do.” Nationally, 12% of adults agreed with that statement.
The fight over the AI advertisement has also pulled in Gov. Landry’s attorney Stephen Gelé. Gelé sent Fleming a cease-and-desist letter through the Accountability Project, a nonprofit political action committee, warning that Fleming could be headed to court over alleged “slander and lies.”
The controversy also comes days after Landry signed a new law aimed at artificial intelligence in political campaigns.
House Bill 459, now Act 806, requires clear disclosures when electioneering communications use artificial intelligence to make it falsely appear to a reasonable observer that a candidate said or did something, or when AI is used to replace a person’s likeness with that of a candidate.
Were the law already active, Fleming could have been liable for his video.