Mitch Landrieu: Difference between revisions

| image = Mitch Landrieu January(52801339981) 2022(cropped).jpg

| caption = Landrieu in JanuaryApril 20222023

| office = [[WhiteSenior HouseAdvisor to the President of the United States|Senior Advisor to the President]] Coordinator for the [[Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act|Infrastructure Investment & Jobs]]

| term_end alongside = January 8, 2024

| successorpresident = [[NatalieJoe QuillianBiden]]

| office1 = [[SeniorWhite AdvisorHouse]] toCoordinator the President offor the United States|Senior Advisor to the President]] for [[Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act|Infrastructure Investment & Jobs Act Implementation CoordinationOffice]]

HeLandrieu 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<ref>{{cite web|url=http://staticresults.sos.la.gov/02012014/02012014_36.html|title=Results for Election Date: 2/1/2014|publisher=staticresults.sos.la.gov|access-date=February 3, 2014}}</ref> and became the first Mayor to win both elections without a runoff and to be elected by majorities of both white and black voters.<ref name="Mayor - Biography">{{Cite web|url=http://www.nola.gov/mayor/bio/|title=Mayors Office - Home - City of New Orleans|accessdate=June 30, 2023}}</ref>

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 [[primaryPartisan electionprimary|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.

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.<ref name="Mayor - Biography"/> He announced in December 2009 that he would be running in the [[2010 New Orleans mayoral election]],<ref>{{cite web|author=Times-Picayune archive |url=http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2009/12/mitch_landrieu_to_enter_new_or.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120906060331/http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2009/12/mitch_landrieu_to_enter_new_or.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 6, 2012 |title=Mitch Landrieu to enter New Orleans mayoral race, sources say |publisher=NOLA.com |access-date=August 30, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.wwltv.com/news/politics/Landrieu-says-hell-run-for-Mayor-of-NO-78782557.html |title=With a change of heart, Landrieu jumps into crowded mayor's race &#124; New Orleans News, Local News, Breaking News, Weather &#124; wwltv.com &#124; Political News |publisher=wwltv.com |access-date=August 30, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091219030707/http://www.wwltv.com/news/politics/Landrieu-says-hell-run-for-Mayor-of-NO-78782557.html |archive-date=December 19, 2009 }}</ref> 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.<ref name="election">{{cite web |url=http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2010/02/demographer_calls_mayor_lt_gov.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100210052318/http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2010/02/demographer_calls_mayor_lt_gov.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=February 10, 2010 |title=Demographer calls Mayor for Lieutenant Governor Mitch Landrieu |publisher=NOLA |access-date=February 7, 2010}}</ref><ref name="landslide">{{cite web |url=http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2010/02/mitch_landrieu_claims_new_orle.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120904133813/http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2010/02/mitch_landrieu_claims_new_orle.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 4, 2012 |title=Mitch Landrieu claims New Orleans mayor's office in a landslide|publisher=NOLA |access-date=February 7, 2010}}</ref> Landrieu is the first white person to hold the post since his father left office in 1978.

In 2015, Landrieu called for the removal from prominent public display of four monuments, three honoring [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] leaders and one honoring a short-lived, violent coup of the state government by the Crescent City [[White League]]. The New Orleans City Council approved their removal the same year. After various legal challenges to removal were struck down, on April 24, 2017, the long-contentious [[Battle of Liberty Place Monument]] was the first to be removed.<ref name="advocateafterremovinglibertyplacemonument">{{cite news|last1=Adelson|first1=Jeff|last2=Nowak|first2=Jeff|title=After removing Liberty Place monument, Mitch Landrieu: Others coming down 'sooner rather than later'|url=http://www.theadvocate.com/new_orleans/news/article_7e6177ca-28d1-11e7-b0ab-337a03c89b7c.html|access-date=April 26, 2017|work=The New Orleans Advocate|date=April 24, 2017}}</ref> He was criticized by opponents of its removal for his lack of transparency.<ref name="advocateafterremovinglibertyplacemonument"/> The statues of Confederate Generals [[Robert E. Lee]] and [[P. G. T. Beauregard]] as well as Confederate President [[Jefferson Davis]]<ref>{{cite news|title=New Orleans' Confederate monuments 'aberration ... denial of our history,' Mitch Landrieu says|url=http://www.theadvocate.com/new_orleans/news/article_8b659b3a-287d-11e7-8566-0b3822d08fd7.html|access-date=April 26, 2017|work=The New Orleans Advocate|date=April 24, 2017}}</ref> were removed in May 2017.<ref>{{cite news| title=The Latest: Last Confederate Monument Removed in New Orleans |work=US News & World Report|agency=[[Associated Press]]| date=19 May 2017 | url=http://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/louisiana/articles/2017-05-19/the-latest-crowd-gathers-at-lee-statue-ahead-of-removal | access-date=30 June 2023}}</ref> As the Confederate monuments came down on his orders, Landrieu made an address explaining the decision, which quickly went viral,<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/23/opinion/mitch-landrieu-new-orleans-mayor-speech.html|title=Opinion &#124; Mitch Landrieu Reminds Us That Eloquence Still Exists (Published 2017)|first=Frank|last=Bruni|newspaper=The New York Times |date=May 23, 2017}}</ref> and received praise in national media outlets.<ref name="Mayor - Biography"/>