Mitchell Joseph Landrieu ( ; born August 16, 1960) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 61st mayor of New Orleans from 2010 to 2018. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 51st lieutenant governor of Louisiana from 2004 to 2010.
Landrieu is the son of former New Orleans mayor and Cabinet-secretary Moon Landrieu and the brother of former U.S. senator Mary Landrieu. In 2007, he won a second term as lieutenant governor in the October 20, 2007 nonpartisan blanket primary by defeating two Republicans: state representative Gary J. Beard and singer Sammy Kershaw. On February 6, 2010, Landrieu was elected Mayor of New Orleans, garnering 66 percent of the citywide vote and claiming victory in 365 of the city's 366 voting precincts. He was reelected mayor on February 1, 2014, becoming the first Mayor to win both elections without a runoff and to be elected by majorities of both white and black voters.
On November 14, 2021, President Joe Biden announced that Landrieu would serve as senior advisor responsible for coordinating the implementation of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. He assumed office with the signing of the bill into law on November 15, 2021. He stepped down from his role as the infrastructure implementation coordinator on January 8, 2024, to join Biden's 2024 reelection campaign as a co-chair. With the announcement of Biden's withdrawal from the presidential campaign, Landrieu become a co-chair of the Kamala Harris 2024 presidential campaign and also served as a co-chair of the 2024 Democratic National Convention. After the general election, Landrieu was mentioned as a possible candidate for chair of the Democratic National Committee with incumbent Jaime Harrison opting not to run for re-election. Landrieu decided not to run.
Early life Landrieu was born and raised in the Broadmoor neighborhood of New Orleans, the fifth of nine children of Maurice "Moon" Landrieu and Verna (Satterlee). His mother was partly descended from the large wave of Sicilian immigrants that came to Louisiana during the nineteenth century. He stated in a March 2018 journalism podcast that he is of Italian, French, German, British, and African-American heritage. His great-grandmother Cerentha Mackey was the illegitimate child of a mixed-race black woman and an unknown father.
Raised Catholic, Landrieu graduated from Jesuit High School in 1978 and enrolled at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. where he earned a B.A. in political science and theatre in 1982. In 1985, he earned a Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree from Loyola University Law School in New Orleans.
Prior to public service, Landrieu practiced law for 16 years and became a mediator, focusing on alternative dispute resolution. He owned International Mediation and Arbitration, where he mediated over 700 cases involving complex issues. He was also appointed special master for a major train derailment involving up to 9,000 plaintiffs. He clerked for Federal Court Judge Adrian Duplantier and Chief Justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court Pascal Calogero. He is a member of the Supreme Court Task Force on Alternative Dispute Resolution which was responsible for developing the pilot mediation program in Orleans Parish. Landrieu is trained in mediation and negotiation by the Harvard Law School Negotiation Project, the American Arbitration Association, and the Attorney Mediator's Institute. Landrieu has also taught alternative dispute resolution as an adjunct professor at Loyola University Law School.
Political career
Legislator Landrieu was elected to the Louisiana House of Representatives in 1987, where he served for sixteen years in the seat previously held by his sister and before her, his father.
As a leader of the “Young Turks,” Landrieu advocated a non-partisan approach to governing and pushed for fiscal reform in the early 1990s, when the state was in a precarious financial situation. Working with a diverse bipartisan group of lawmakers, he helped focus attention away from partisan fights and toward efficiency and accountability. Landrieu led this coalition, often against Democratic Governor Edwin Edwards, to restructure government instead of cutting healthcare programs and raising fees. He shepherded through the House a constitutional amendment designed to limit Louisiana's debt. Later, in partnership with Republican Governor Mike Foster in 1999, Landrieu led an effort to have the state's $4.4 billion tobacco settlement placed into a trust, allowing the Legislature to only allocate the interest earned every year. He also focused on stimulating economic growth by supporting the construction of major economic development projects in New Orleans – including the Morial Convention Center, the New Orleans Arena, the National World War II Museum and the biomedical district.
Landrieu led the legislative effort to reform Louisiana's juvenile justice system with a focus on rehabilitation and reform as opposed to punishment and incarceration. As lieutenant governor, he continued to chair the Juvenile Justice Commission, the entity created by the legislation to implement the reforms. In January 2004, Governor Kathleen Blanco endorsed the Commission's recommendations.
Landrieu also led the effort by a coalition of artists, venue owners, and other interested parties who were successful in repealing the Orleans Parish "amusement tax", a 2% tax on gross sales at any establishment that features live music. As an attorney, Landrieu brought a case to court that resulted in the tax being ruled unconstitutional. He continued the fight by bringing the issue to the New Orleans City Council, who voted to repeal the tax. As a legislator, Landrieu sponsored a bill to repeal the law that allowed the tax to exist.
He also chaired a commission that worked to consolidate New Orleans elected offices, which became a reality after Hurricane Katrina. Landrieu also vocally opposed former Ku Klux Klan wizard and then Representative David Duke, fighting Duke's divisive and often-racist legislation.
Landrieu crafted legislation to fund the Louisiana Cancer Research Consortium of New Orleans, a partnership between the Louisiana State University and Tulane University Health Sciences Centers. Louisiana has the nation's highest cancer mortality rate, according to the American Cancer Society.
One of Landrieu's most ambitious projects as Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana has been the creation of the World Cultural Economic Forum (WCEF). The Forum, held annually in New Orleans, is directed towards promoting cultural economic development opportunities through the strategic convening of cultural ambassadors and leaders from around the world. The first WCEF took place in October 2008. He has carried on this project as mayor and has even established a formal cultural economy office at City Hall.
1994 New Orleans mayoral election In 1994, Landrieu made an unsuccessful bid for the office of Mayor of New Orleans; the office went to Marc Morial, the son of another former mayor.
Lieutenant governor
Mitch Landrieu's 2003 campaign for lieutenant governor was his first bid for statewide office in Louisiana. After 16 years in the State House, Landrieu was elected lieutenant governor in 2003. In a field of six candidates, Landrieu garnered 53 percent of the vote and won outright in the Louisiana open primary, thus avoiding a general election. His principal opponents were three Republicans, former U.S. Representative Clyde C. Holloway of Rapides Parish, former lieutenant governor Melinda Schwegmann of New Orleans, and businessman Kirt Bennett of Baton Rouge.
When Hurricanes Katrina and Rita hit New Orleans and the Gulf Coast in 2005, the lieutenant governor was involved in the emergency response. After commanding portions of the hurricane response and recovery, Landrieu was tasked to lead the effort to rebuild the state's tourism industry.
Around this time, he decided to challenge incumbent Mayor C. Ray Nagin. With voting sites scattered across the country and most residents having not yet returned home, he narrowly lost to Nagin.
Immediately after the storm, Landrieu brought together industry leaders and national experts to develop a strategic plan, Louisiana Rebirth, to rebuild the state's tourism industry. It was in this period of recovery that Landrieu began to clearly articulate a governing philosophy that would guide him over the next part of his career. He believed you needed to bring people together to get things done. In order to do so, there needed to be clear command, control and communication. Also, the federal, state and local governments needed to be aligned better—both vertically and horizontally. This means coordinating behind the scenes, breaking down silos and building partnerships to meet the state's biggest priorities. He believed that government in many instances should steer, not row—that it is a facilitator, with the ability to link public, private, not-for-profit, and faith organizations, and help each of them leverage their collective assets.
In this vein, he launched the “Cultural Economy” initiative out of whole cloth to quantify and grow jobs in Louisiana's culture, music, food, film and art industries. He also created the first in the nation Office of Social Entrepreneurship to advance social innovation by supporting the creation and growth of the most innovative, measurable and sustainable solutions to the social problems affecting Louisiana's citizens. These were new and innovative ways to address old problems.
As Lieutenant Governor, Landrieu also chaired the Juvenile Justice Commission to reform to the state's juvenile justice system. Under his leadership, the Commission overhauled the probation and parole systems for youth offenders, established violence prevention programs, and studied the connection between domestic abuse and juvenile delinquency.
2006 New Orleans mayoral election
In February 2006, Landrieu officially announced he would run for mayor of New Orleans in the April 22 election. Before Hurricane Katrina the incumbent Ray Nagin was widely expected to be reelected with little difficulty, but post-disaster problems and controversies had left many New Orleanians interested in new leadership.
In the election of April 22, preliminary results showed Landrieu with the second most votes, with 29% of the vote to Nagin's 38%. Nagin and Landrieu faced each other in a run off election on May 20. With unofficial results showing 53% of the vote for Nagin, Landrieu conceded defeat.
2010 New Orleans mayoral election
Although Landrieu had at first indicated he did not plan on it, he ultimately decided to pass on an open race for governor or an easy re-election as lieutenant governor to instead run for the job he always wanted—New Orleans mayor. He announced in December 2009 that he would be running in the 2010 New Orleans mayoral election, in a bid to succeed Ray Nagin, who was term-limited. Landrieu won with some 67% of the vote, with wide support across racial and demographic lines. His outright victory over 10 challengers in the first round of voting eliminated the need for a runoff election. Landrieu is the first white person to hold the post since his father left office in 1978.
Mayor of New Orleans
Landrieu was sworn in on May 3, 2010, after winning 66 percent of the vote in the primary, winning a majority across African American and white votes.