Mitch Landrieu

Mitchell Joseph Landrieu (born August 16, 1960) is an American lawyer and politician who served as Mayor of New Orleans from 2010 to 2018.

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.

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.

A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana from 2004 to 2010.

Landrieu is the son of former New Orleans Mayor and Secretary of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development Moon Landrieu and the brother of former U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu.

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.

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.

He was elected Mayor of New Orleans on February 6, 2010, 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, with nearly 64 percent of the vote in a three-candidate field and became 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.

Landrieu was born and raised in the Broadmoor neighborhood of New Orleans, the fifth of nine children of Maurice "Moon" and Verna (Satterlee) Landrieu.

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.