How does U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow square endorsing diversity, equity and inclusion policies as a college presidential applicant in 2020 and her subsequent anti-DEI voting record in Congress?

That’s the question that confronted Letlow Friday in the face of continuing attacks from the man she is trying to unseat, U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy, for her calls to expand DEI to hire more women and racial minorities on the faculty when she was applying in 2020 to be the next president of the University of Louisiana-Monroe.

In press releases and a video on Thursday and Friday, Cassidy pointed to her comments to challenge her conservative credentials. “Julia is a liberal,” he concluded.

State Treasurer John Fleming, the other major Republican candidate in the race, has piled on with criticisms of Letlow.

“DEI is a Marxist concept that says everybody has to have equal outcomes regardless of their abilities or regardless of how hard they work or study,” Fleming said in an interview. “Socialism or Marxism has never worked in any country.”

So far, Letlow has noted that she has expressed strong opposition to DEI programs since she was elected to the House in 2021. She also noted that Cassidy supported bills passed by Congress that included DEI programs.

On Friday, The Times-Picayune | The Advocate requested an interview with Letlow to ask her to explain how she could call for creating a “division” of DEI at UL Monroe and then oppose those programs after joining the House the following year.

“Early on, DEI was presented in higher education as a way to encourage people to achieve the American dream,” the campaign responded in a statement from Letlow. “But I quickly witnessed firsthand what it really was: another tool the radical left hijacked to divide people, push indoctrination, and build a system that holds people down instead of lifting them up.”

The wrangling over DEI is taking place six weeks before the May 16 Republican primary where Republicans and no-party voters will choose among Fleming, Cassidy, Letlow and Mark Spencer, a political unknown, to be their next senator.

The party’s leadership is crystal clear on DEI.

President Donald Trump, from the day he returned to office, has sought to root out DEI policies at the nation’s universities.

Gov. Jeff Landry wrote the U.S. Department of Education on Feb. 23 that “harmful diversity, equity and inclusion policies have no place in Louisiana.”

This backdrop explains why Cassidy began slamming Letlow on DEI immediately after Fox News on Wednesday aired a report that contained video of her promoting the benefits of DEI when she was one of six semifinalists to be UL Monroe’s next president in August 2020.

“I think it exposes her true colors,” Cassidy said in a video recorded on Thursday.

Letlow, who has a doctorate from the University of South Florida, was the university’s Executive Assistant to the President for External Affairs and Community Outreach at the time. Her comments came three months after a police officer in Minneapolis choked George Floyd to death, spurring a leftward move nationally in favor of DEI and so-called “woke” policies.

“A strong and progressive leader”

During the interview, Letlow called herself “a strong and progressive leader” and said UL Monroe’s next president needed to provide powerful support for DEI because the university didn’t have enough women and women of color on the faculty.

“We have 8 percent African-American faculty women on this campus,” she said. “That is not enough. That does not reflect our student population.”

She added, “We don’t have enough women at the top. We don’t have enough women of color at the top. I would be committed to that. I believe the president needs to have diversity on their senior council, just like you said. You avoid groupthink when you have more diverse voices at the table.”

Pearson Cross, a political science professor at UL Monroe, said central to Cassidy’s efforts is an attempt to neutralize or wrestle away from Letlow her chief campaign calling card: Trump’s endorsement of her on Jan. 17.

“Given the strident anti-DEI efforts by Trump and Landry, being a supporter of DEI makes it seem like you’re terribly out of step,” Cross said. “That’s a point the Cassidy campaign is making. It’s evidence that Letlow is not one of us.”

Ed Chervenak, a UNO political science professor, said Cassidy’s tactics are clear.

“He wants to reassure conservative voters that he’s the conservative candidate in the race, not Letlow,” Chervenak said.

Undermine Cassidy’s narrative

The Letlow campaign is seeking to undermine that narrative by reminding voters that Cassidy voted to convict Trump on impeachment charges after the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol, and by noting that Cassidy, in August 2023, said Trump should drop out of the presidential race because he was facing criminal charges from four indictments. (Trump was convicted by a jury in New York City in May 2024 of paying hush money to porn star Stormy Daniels to hide a sex scandal that threatened to derail his 2016 presidential campaign.)

The Letlow campaign is also zeroing in on several bills where Cassidy joined some Republicans in voting with Democrats to pass bills when President Joe Biden was in office. Tucked into these sprawling bills were measures that promoted DEI.

“Cassidy,” Letlow said in her statement, “voted with Democrats to fund and expand the DEI machine. So the contrast in this race is simple: I fought it, and he helped bankroll it.”

There are three candidates in the May 16 Democratic primary. They are Nick Albares, Jamie Davis and Gary Crockett. None currently hold elected office.