2026 race

LA-05 — U.S. House

11 active candidates on file with the FEC. Incumbent: Julia Letlow.

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Currently held by

Julia Letlow (R) — not seeking re-election in 2026. They've publicly announced their retirement; their committee is still on the FEC's 2026 roster for routine compliance, but this is effectively an open seat.

Election day

135days

Tuesday, November 3, 2026

Make sure you can vote

Disclosed money in race

$11M

Candidate + outside spending. See finance breakdown below.

Incumbent

Currently in office

Julia Letlow

IncumbentFEC H2LA05126

Raised this cycle$2.1M

Cash on hand: $0

View record Compare Campaign site

Challengers

Sorted by fundraising

Blake Miguez

ChallengerFEC H6LA05234

Raised this cycle$6.2M

Cash on hand: $4.0M

Campaign site

Michael Charles Echols

ChallengerFEC H6LA05242

Raised this cycle$1.8M

Cash on hand: $1.4M

Campaign site

Misti Smith Cordell

ChallengerFEC H6LA05200

Raised this cycle$502K

Cash on hand: $173K

Campaign site

Rick Edmonds

ChallengerFEC H6LA05226

Raised this cycle$335K

Cash on hand: $279K

Campaign site

Dixon McMakin

ChallengerFEC H6LA05218

Raised this cycle$63K

Cash on hand: $0

Dan McKay

ChallengerFEC H6LA05291

Raised this cycle$44K

Cash on hand: $4K

Michael Edward Mebruer

ChallengerFEC H6LA05259

Raised this cycle$38K

Cash on hand: $5K

Lindsay Garcia

ChallengerFEC H6LA05309

Raised this cycle$23K

Cash on hand: $11K

Campaign site

Tania Nyman

ChallengerFEC H6LA05275

Raised this cycle$11K

Cash on hand: $5K

Campaign site

Austin Magee

ChallengerFEC H6LA05283

Raised this cycle—

Cash on hand: —

Local signal

Early read on LA-05 — U.S. House

A directional read on where this seat is trending, from the signals we have so far. This is an early scaffold — more inputs light up as coverage and constituent activity accrue.

Coverage tone · leans positive

Recent news coverage of Julia Letlow over the last 90 days.

6 positive54 neutral2 negative

62 articles · AI-assessed sentiment toward the rep. A media signal, not a poll of the district.

Constituent stakes

No one here has staked a position on a tracked vote yet. As neighbors weigh in on /pressure campaigns, the district's lean will show up here.

Money in the race

Finance breakdown

Disclosed funding shaping this race — both the money candidates raise themselves and the outside spending dropped by independent groups. Issue-ad spending by 501(c)(4) groups is excluded; the FEC doesn't require disclosure of it. See the note below for details.

Total disclosed

$11M

Candidate fundraising + independent expenditures (FEC).

Candidate-direct (Schedule A)

$11M

Raised by candidate committees themselves.

Outside spending (Schedule E)

No outside spending reported yet.

Candidate	Raised directly	Outside for	Outside against	Net in corner
Blake Miguez(R)	$6.2M	—	—	$6.2M
Julia Letlow(R)incumbent	$2.1M	—	—	$2.1M
Michael Charles Echols(R)	$1.8M	—	—	$1.8M
Misti Smith Cordell(R)	$502K	—	—	$502K
Rick Edmonds(R)	$335K	—	—	$335K
Dixon McMakin(R)	$63K	—	—	$63K
Dan McKay(D)	$44K	—	—	$44K
Michael Edward Mebruer(R)	$38K	—	—	$38K
Lindsay Garcia(D)	$23K	—	—	$23K
Tania Nyman(D)	$11K	—	—	$11K
Austin Magee(R)	$0	—	—	$0

Where the money comes from

In-state vs out-of-state

Share of each candidate's itemized individual contributions from donors inside LA versus the rest of the country. Excludes sub-$200 unitemized donations (no geography on file) and PAC money — see note below.

Blake Miguez(R)86% in-state · $2.9M itemized

$2.5M in-state$398K out-of-state

Julia Letlow(R)76% in-state · $1.3M itemized

$965K in-state$300K out-of-state

Michael Charles Echols(R)96% in-state · $318K itemized

$305K in-state$13K out-of-state

Dan McKay(D)19% in-state · $8K itemized

$2K in-state$6K out-of-state

What's counted, what isn't

Candidate-direct is each campaign's reported receipts on FEC Schedule A — individual contributions plus PAC contributions to the candidate's own committee — through the most recent filing.

Outside spending is independent expenditures on FEC Schedule E: money spent by PACs, super PACs, and party committees for or against a candidate, without legal coordination with the campaign. The committees listed under each candidate are the largest disclosed spenders on either side.

In-state vs out-of-state covers only itemized individual contributions — donations over $200, which are the only ones that carry a contributor address at the FEC. Sub-$200 unitemized donations (often a large share for grassroots campaigns) have no geography on file and are excluded, as is PAC money. So the percentages describe where a candidate's itemized individual money comes from, not where every dollar raised comes from.

Not counted: 501(c)(4) "social welfare" organizations run issue ads that frequently mention candidates by name but aren't classified as express advocacy under FEC rules — they file no Schedule E and don't appear in this breakdown. Press reporting on a race may cite figures that include this dark-money spending; ours doesn't.

About this race page

Candidate roster is sourced from the FEC's active-candidate list for the 2026 cycle. Fundraising totals reflect committee filings through the last reporting period.

Alignment % compares the candidate's extracted policy positions against your quiz answers. Positions are pulled from the candidate's campaign issues page by AI; we save the source quote for each position so you can verify the extraction. Candidates without a campaign issues page show position data pending — we're working through the roster and re-checking stale extractions every 90 days.

News coverage is from the GDELT 2.0 global news feed, filtered to a curated list of national, political, and regional outlets.