Cedric Levan Richmond (born September 13, 1973) is an American attorney, politician, and political advisor who served as a

senior advisor to the president Senior Advisor to the President is a title used by high-ranking political advisors to the president of the United States. White House senior advisors are senior members of the White House Office. The title has been formally used since 1993. Res ...

and director of the

White House Office of Public Engagement The White House Office of Public Engagement is a unit of the White House Office The White House Office is an entity within the Executive Office of the President of the United States (EOP). The White House Office is headed by the White House ...

in the Biden administration. A member of the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

, he was the

U.S. representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...

for

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a U.S. state, state in the Deep South and South Central United States, South Central regions of the United States. It is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 20th-smal ...

's 2nd congressional district from 2011 to 2021. His district included most of

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

Congressional Black Caucus The Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) is a caucus made up of most African-American members of the United States Congress. Representative Karen Bass from California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the P ...

. Beginning with his third term, he was the only Louisiana Democrat serving in either chamber of

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

. He served as State Representative from New Orleans to the

Louisiana State House The Louisiana House of Representatives (french: link=no, Chambre des Représentants de Louisiane) is the lower house in the Louisiana State Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Louisiana. This chamber is composed of 105 re ...

from 2000 to 2011. In 2019, he was named the first national co-chairman of the

Joe Biden 2020 presidential campaign Former vice president Joe Biden began his presidential campaign on April 25, 2019 by releasing a video announcing his candidacy in the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries. The campaign concluded with him and his running mate Kamala ...

. On September 5, 2020, he was named a co-chair of Biden's presidential transition. On November 17, 2020, Richmond announced he would leave Congress in January 2021 to serve as

Senior Advisor to the President Senior Advisor to the President is a title used by high-ranking political advisors to the president of the United States. White House senior advisors are senior members of the White House Office. The title has been formally used since 1993. Res ...

and director of the

Office of Public Liaison The White House Office of Public Engagement is a unit of the White House Office within the Executive Office of the President of the United States. Under the administration of President Barack Obama, it was called the White House Office of Public ...

, which President Biden renamed the White House Office of Public Engagement.

Early life and education

Richmond was born in New Orleans in 1973 and raised in

New Orleans East New Orleans East is the eastern section of New Orleans, the newest section of the city. It is bounded by the Industrial Canal, the Intracoastal Waterway and Lake Pontchartrain. Developed extensively from the 1950s onward, its numerous resident ...

, where he attended public schools. His father died when he was seven years old. His mother was a public school teacher and small business owner. Richmond graduated from Benjamin Franklin High School. He earned a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

from

Morehouse College , mottoeng = And there was light (literal translation of Latin itself translated from Hebrew: "And light was made") , type = Private historically black men's liberal arts college , academic_affiliation ...

, and a

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice l ...

from Tulane School of Law. He also completed an executive program at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

John F. Kennedy School of Government The Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), officially the John F. Kennedy School of Government, is the school of public policy and government of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school offers master's degrees in public policy, public a ...

. While at Morehouse, Richmond played

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional pl ...

as a

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, who attempts to e ...

for the

Morehouse Maroon Tigers , mottoeng = And there was light (literal translation of Latin itself translated from Hebrew: "And light was made") , type = Private historically black men's liberal arts college , academic_affiliations ...

in the

Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference The Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level. Formed in 1913, it consists mostly of historically black c ...

Louisiana legislature

Richmond was elected and served as the Louisiana State Representative for the 101st district (

Orleans Parish New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

U.S. House of Representatives

In 2010, Richmond was elected to the US House of Representatives from

Louisiana's 2nd congressional district Louisiana's 2nd congressional district contains nearly all of the city of New Orleans and stretches west and north to Baton Rouge. The district is currently represented by Democrat Troy Carter. With a Cook Partisan Voting Index rating of D+25, ...

for the first time. He took office in 2011. He was reelected in 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018, and 2020. On June 9, 2014, Richmond introduced the

Honor Flight Act (H.R. 4812; 113th Congress) The Honor Flight Act () is a bill that would direct the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to establish a process for providing expedited and dignified passenger screening services for veterans traveling on an Honor Flight to visit wa ...

, a bill that would direct the

Transportation Security Administration The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is an agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that has authority over the security of transportation systems within, and connecting to the United States. It was created ...

(TSA) to establish a process for providing expedited and dignified passenger screening services for

veterans A veteran () is a person who has significant experience (and is usually adept and esteemed) and expertise in a particular occupation or field. A military veteran is a person who is no longer serving in a military. A military veteran that h ...

traveling on an Honor Flight to visit war memorials that had been built to honor their service. That year Richmond defended his Republican colleague

Vance McAllister Vance Michael McAllister Sr. (born January 7, 1974), is an American businessman and Republican former member of the United States House of Representatives from Louisiana's 5th congressional district. He won a special runoff election held on ...

, who had become embroiled in an alleged adultery scandal. It was a rare across-the-aisle gesture. Richmond said that he associated the controversy around McAllister with "gotcha moments" in which the "two parties in this country have gone overboard...and taken joy in the pain of their supposed opponents". Richmond was one of a few Democrats who voted to authorize the

Keystone XL pipeline The Keystone Pipeline System is an oil pipeline system in Canada and the United States, commissioned in 2010 and owned by TC Energy and as of 31 March 2020 the Government of Alberta. It runs from the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin in Albe ...

. He is the fifth-biggest recipient of money from fossil fuel donors among House Democrats. The

League of Conservation Voters The League of Conservation Voters (LCV) is an American environmental advocacy group. LCV says that it "advocates for sound environmental laws and policies, holds elected officials accountable for their votes and actions, and elects pro-environme ...

gave him one of the lowest ratings for any Democrat in Congress. Richmond has been active in the

, made up of African-American legislators who work together to have their views heard. On November 30, 2016, he was elected chair of the caucus for the

115th United States Congress The 115th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States of America federal government, composed of the Senate and the House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C., from January 3, 2017, to January ...

. On December 18, 2019, Richmond voted to impeach President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of ...

Elections

2008

Richmond came in third place in the seven-candidate primary election for the Democratic nomination for

, behind U.S. Representative William J. Jefferson and television newscaster

Helena Moreno Helena Nancy Moreno (born September 30, 1977) is a Mexican-American realtot, equestrienne, former journalist, and politician serving as the president of the New Orleans City Council and First Division Councilmember-at-Large. Moreno was formerly ...

. During a primary debate, Richmond accused Moreno of drug use, and she attacked him based on his disqualification from the 2005 New Orleans City Council "D" district election. Later in 2008, the Louisiana Supreme Court suspended Richmond's law license for six months in a 5–2 decision. It found that he had falsified a sworn statement claiming more than two years of residency in New Orleans's "D" district in order to be eligible for the district's city council seat.

2010

Richmond challenged Republican incumbent Anh “Joseph” Cao for . Richmond was the first candidate in the 2010 elections to have President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Obama was the first Af ...

appear in a television ad on his behalf. Most analysts considered Richmond a strong favorite to retake this seat for the Democrats, even in what was forecast to be a Republican year nationally. With a

Cook Partisan Voting Index The Cook Partisan Voting Index, abbreviated Cook PVI, CPVI, or PVI, is a measurement of how strongly a United States congressional district or U.S. state leans toward the Democratic or Republican Party, compared to the nation as a whole, based ...

of D+25, the 2nd was the most Democratic district in the country to be represented by a Republican. In 2008 Obama had carried it with 74% of the vote, his fifth-best performance in a Southern district and his 35th best nationally. Richmond won the November 2 election with 65% of the vote.

2012

2020

Richmond's campaign received almost $113,000 from the oil and gas sector, which donated more than any other sector to his campaign. He was reelected with 63.6% of the vote.

Committee assignments

* Committee on Homeland Security **

Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection, and Security Technologies A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly. A committee is not itself considered to be a form of assembly. Usually, the assembly sends matters into a committee as a way to explore them more ...

(Chair) ** Subcommittee on Emergency Preparedness, Response, and Recovery *

Committee on the Judiciary Committee on the Judiciary may mean: * United States House Committee on the Judiciary * United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary * Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice (Parliament of India) {{Disambig ...

** Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet **

Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security The Subcommittee on Crime and Federal Government Surveillance is a subcommittee within the House Judiciary Committee The U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary, also called the House Judiciary Committee, is a standing committee of the United Stat ...

Congressional caucuses

New Democrat Coalition The New Democrat Coalition is a caucus in the House of Representatives of the United States Congress made up of Democrats, primarily centrists, who take a pro-business stance and a moderate-to-conservative approach to fiscal matters. As of S ...

Controversies

In January 2017, Richmond became involved in an argument with Republican lawmakers over whether a particular painting should continue to hang in the Capitol. The painting in question shows police officers apprehending suspects, and the police are depicted as pigs. It was painted by someone from Richmond's district who had won a local award, and Republicans objected to it. Richmond said that escalating the issue might "open up Pandora's Box" because there are other paintings that some people might also find offensive. In March 2017, Richmond was criticized for making a crude joke about a controversial photograph of

Kellyanne Conway Kellyanne Elizabeth Conway (née Fitzpatrick; born January 20, 1967) is an American political consultant and pollster, who served as Senior Counselor to the President in the administration of Donald Trump from 2017 to 2020. She was previousl ...

kneeling on the Oval Office couch. Richmond appeared to compare Conway to

Monica Lewinsky Monica Samille Lewinsky (born July 23, 1973) is an American activist and writer. President Bill Clinton admitted to having an affair with Lewinsky while she worked at the White House as an intern in 1995 and 1996. The affair, and its repercu ...

, saying, "I really just want to know what was going on there, because she really looked kind of familiar there in that position there. But don't answer. And I don't want you to refer back to the '90s." Richmond later said the joke was not meant to be sexual. "Since some people have interpreted my joke to mean something that it didn’t I think it is important to clarify what I meant", he said in a statement. "Where I grew up saying that someone is looking or acting ‘familiar’ simply means that they are behaving too comfortably."

Congressional Baseball Game

Richmond played in the annual

Congressional Baseball Game The Congressional Baseball Game for Charity is an annual baseball game played each summer by members of the United States Congress. The game began as a casual event among colleagues in 1909 and eventually evolved into one of Washington, D.C.'s ...

. He was the starting Democratic pitcher for each of the five years since his election and the Democrats won each game. He had a 2.85

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the numb ...

, 1.67

walks plus hits per inning pitched In baseball statistics, walks plus hits per inning pitched (WHIP) is a sabermetric measurement of the number of baserunners a pitcher has allowed per inning pitched. WHIP is calculated by adding the number of walks and hits allowed and divi ...

and 45

strikeouts In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It usually means that the batter is out. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters, and is deno ...

in his 27 innings pitched in that span. In 2016 Republican team

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities ...

Joe Barton Joseph Linus Barton (born September 15, 1949) is an American politician who represented in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1985 to 2019. The district included Arlington, part of Fort Worth, and several small towns and rural areas sout ...

called him the best player to ever participate in the game. Richmond lost his first game in 2016, a day after participating through the night in the

2016 United States House of Representatives sit-in The 2016 United States House of Representatives sit-in began on June 22, 2016, when members of the House Democratic Caucus, led by Georgia Representative John Lewis, Massachusetts Representative Katherine Clark, and Illinois Representative Robi ...

Biden administration

Richmond was a national co-chair of the

. On November 17, 2020, he announced that he would join the

Biden administration Joe Biden's tenure as the List of presidents of the United States, 46th president of the United States began with Inauguration of Joe Biden, his inauguration on January 20, 2021. Biden, a Democratic Party (United States), Democrat from Delaw ...

and director of the White House

. His resignation became official on January 15, 2021. His departure triggered a 2021 special election.

Justice Democrats Justice Democrats is an American progressive political action committee founded on January 23, 2017, by former leaders from the Bernie Sanders 2016 presidential campaign Saikat Chakrabarti and Zack Exley, as well as political commentators Kyl ...

criticized Richmond's appointment, alleging that he was one of the top Democratic recipients of donations from the fossil fuel industry. In an interview before Biden's swearing-in, Richmond noted his potential work in reaching out to

conservatives Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

in different parts of the country. Richmond was reportedly working with the Biden administration on addressing

reparations for slavery Reparations for slavery is the application of the concept of reparations to victims of slavery and/or their descendants. There are concepts for reparations in legal philosophy and reparations in transitional justice. Reparations can take numer ...

. Richmond resigned from the White House on May 18, 2022, for a job at the

Democratic National Committee The Democratic National Committee (DNC) is the governing body of the United States Democratic Party. The committee coordinates strategy to support Democratic Party candidates throughout the country for local, state, and national office, as well ...

Electoral history

U.S. Representative, 2nd Congressional District November Election, 2016 U.S. Representative, 2nd Congressional District-November Election, 2014 U.S. Representative, 2nd Congressional District-November Election, 2012 U.S. Representative, 2nd Congressional District-Democratic Party, 2010 August 28, 2010 U.S. Representative, 2nd Congressional District-Democratic Party, 2008 Threshold > 50% First Ballot, November 2, 2004 Louisiana State Representative, 101st District, 2007 October 20, 2007 Louisiana State Representative, 101st District, 2003 October 4, 2003 Louisiana State Representative, 101st District, 1999 Threshold > 50% First Ballot, October 23, 1999 Second Ballot, November 20, 1999

Notes

References

External links

* * , - , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Richmond, Cedric 1973 births Living people 21st-century American politicians African-American members of the United States House of Representatives African-American people in Louisiana politics African-American state legislators in Louisiana Assistants to the President of the United States Biden administration personnel Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Louisiana Joe Biden 2020 presidential campaign Lawyers from New Orleans Democratic Party members of the Louisiana House of Representatives Morehouse College alumni Morehouse Maroon Tigers baseball players Politicians from New Orleans Senior Advisors to the President of the United States Tulane University Law School alumni