Mitch Landrieu

Mitchell Joseph Landrieu (/ˈlændruː/ LAN-drew; 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.

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.

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.