U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow and Tensas Parish farmer Jamie Davis will face off for Louisiana’s U.S. Senate seat on Nov. 3. Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), who currently holds the office, lost in the Republican Primary to Letlow earlier this year.
WWNO/WRKF reached out to both Davis and Letlow, asking them to answer questions on hot-button issues like coastal restoration, data centers, regulation of AI and more.
Only Davis responded to the questionnaire. You can read his answers below.
The following candidates responded to a questionnaire sent by WWNO/WRKF:
Jamie Davis (D)
- Tensas Parish
- Farmer
- Former Tensas Parish Police Juror
- jamieforlouisiana.com
Abortion/Reproductive health
I believe that a woman should have the right to make decisions about her body with her doctor. We flattened all of women’s healthcare into one issue and it made many women less safe.
Politicians and laws shouldn’t be in the room with a woman and her doctor. Since the Supreme Court struck down Roe, women have died on operating tables because doctors have been afraid or unsure of how to help. We should restore women’s right to healthcare, trust them as the mothers and their spouses to make important family and personal decisions. We should also restore access to critical care that can help address our maternal mortality rate in the state.
Carbon Capture Sequestration and Eminent Domain
Decisions about our land, water, and future should not be made solely at the state or federal level without local consent. Communities deserve the final say when projects threaten their property rights, safety, and quality of life.
I oppose CCS by way of eminent domain to seize private property for carbon pipelines. No family should be forced to give up their land so corporations can profit from taxpayer-backed projects.
I also support repealing the federal 45Q tax credit, which has subsidized CCS projects while shifting the risks onto local communities. Instead of spending taxpayer dollars on carbon capture schemes, we should invest in clean energy, infrastructure, and economic development that create good-paying jobs without putting Louisiana communities in harm’s way.
Coastal restoration work in LA
Every dollar spent on preserving and restoring the coast goes much further in protecting people’s lives and homes while also getting us out of the insurance crisis we’re in.
The Coastal Master Plan represents decades of scientific consensus about what this state needs. Congress should fully fund it because we are in the position we’re in because of years of underinvestment on the federal level.
I will also fight to restore the pre-disaster mitigation grants that the current administration terminated, which were specifically designed to protect communities before the storm rather than rebuild them after.
Data Centers
The time has come for a federal moratorium until we know more about how they affect the land, our quality of life, and the water. We need to ensure what we’re offering doesn’t leave us stranded on the back end.
If elected, I also intend to push for legislation banning tax breaks for data center developments. Corporations have enjoyed a long leash and the benefit of the doubt on these tax credits, and too often they’ve come short on the promises they made to get those dollars.
Federal Regulation of AI
I support regulation because I listen to the people who build it. These companies are supposedly asking for regulation, but what they got is a photo op and a piece of paper at the White House that is “morally binding.”
So I am pushing for AI policies that embrace technology but put the people first.
Here are a few policies I’d support:
- Require every new major AI model to undergo a mandatory, independent safety review before release.
- Give communities a meaningful voice in major data center developments.
- Protect privacy and personal data.
- Combat AI-enabled scams, fraud, deepfakes, and other abuses.
- Support AI guardrails that protect people without preventing beneficial innovation.
“Self-policing” by these massive AI companies isn’t going to cut it. The whole White House meeting was a gesture to get them in the room but ultimately, it fell short.
FEMA reform
In some places, FEMA is almost as bad as a cuss word. We need to fix that.
We need to reform FEMA so assistance reaches families faster, simplify the process for homeowners and local governments, and put more emphasis on mitigation before disasters happen instead of spending far more money rebuilding the same vulnerabilities afterward.
That includes investing in levees, drainage, storm-surge protection, resilient roads and bridges, evacuation routes, grid modernization and home-retrofitting programs.
The question isn’t whether we’ll have another disaster; it’s whether we’re going to prepare before it happens. Federal disaster policy should reward preparation, resilience and speed instead of bureaucracy.
Immigration enforcement
I believe we should protect the Dreamers. I believe we should make a meaningful pathway to citizenship that doesn’t take longer than getting a law degree or medical degree.
We need an immigration system rooted in fairness, safety, dignity, and effectiveness. So yes, have strong borders, but don’t raid neighborhoods, school pickup lines, and grocery store parking lots. Operation Catahoula Crunch targeted working people in New Orleans communities, including Indigenous, Hispanic, Vietnamese, and Muslim people. Communities deserve protection, not harassment.
Now, because of the recklessness, we have people, real people, who were or are still separated from families and in detention centers that have already been in the news for the horrible conditions.
Here’s how I would fight to fix this.
- End contracts with private prisons for immigration enforcement, especially those holding kids.
- Protect Dreamers and provide a durable path forward.
- Protect agricultural workers and create a workable guest-worker system.
- Overhaul the pathway to citizenship so it actually works for people.
Offshore drilling for oil and gas
Louisiana is a global energy powerhouse, but politics keeps making us choose one or the other. I’ve sat with folks in the industry and let them know I don’t have anything against their work. I know that families have made a living and put food on the table because of those jobs.
At the same time, we need to lean into all forms of energy while making sure companies are held accountable if an incident happens that harms people and communities.
Should members of Congress be prohibited from owning/trading stock?
Yes. We have evidence to show that there is a culture of abuse in Congress. I want a full ban. I don’t believe any member of Congress (and the FEC definition of immediate family) should be able to own while they serve.
Should elected officials be allowed to sign NDAs?
Absolutely not. I do not support public officials signing secret deals for development projects that force them to be more accountable to a corporation than the people who elected them. I will introduce legislation to ban public officials from signing non-disclosure agreements. I pledge never to sign an NDA as a senator.
You simply cannot fulfill your duties as an elected official while also pledging secrecy to a corporation through an NDA. Public officials work for the people, and these deals should always be done in the light of day.
If you’ve held office before, what legislation are you most proud of and why?
One of the accomplishments I am most proud of was the role I played as a Tensas Parish Police Juror in helping address the water crisis in St. Joseph.
When lead contamination was found in the schools of St. Joseph, I worked with local, state and federal partners as efforts moved forward to address the crisis and replace St. Joseph’s failing water infrastructure. That experience taught me something I still believe today: the size of your town should never determine whether your government fights for you.
Whether you live in St. Joseph, Shreveport, Baton Rouge or New Orleans, you deserve clean water, safe infrastructure and elected officials willing to work across different levels of government to get things done.
That’s the kind of senator I intend to be. When a Louisiana community has a problem, I don’t want to tell them why Washington can’t help. I want to figure out what we can do, bring the right people to the table and get to work.
What will be your top three priorities in office?
My top three priorities are affordability, healthcare, and opportunity.
- First, I will work to lower the cost of living by addressing harmful policies, like tariffs, the OBBBA, and the war in Iran, which have driven up costs and cut access to care.
- Second, I will fight to protect healthcare by defending Medicaid, strengthening rural hospitals at risk of closing, lowering prescription drug costs, and protecting Social Security and Medicare and the subsidies that keep premiums affordable.
- I will address opportunity in a few ways:
- Invest in education, higher federal minimum wages, and workforce development, so that every Louisianan has the opportunity to succeed and build a future here at home.
- I will push for a culture of accountability by supporting a national ban on partisan gerrymandering, congressional stock trading, data center transparency, and elected officials signing NDAs in development projects that use federal dollars
- Lastly, I will fight to pass The Farmer’s Farm Bill that supports family farmers, restores SNAP benefits, strengthens rural communities, improves crop insurance and safety nets, and ensures that those who feed our country can continue to make a living on the land.
My goal is simple: to help create a Louisiana we can all afford, with leadership people can trust is working for and accountable to them.
The following candidates did not respond to a questionnaire sent by WWNO/WRKF:
Julia Letlow (R)
- Monroe
- 5th Congressional District Congresswoman
- julialetlow.com