Britton Loftin

February 26, 2011 | Uncategorized

New Orleans Congressman Cedric Richmond Sure to Rise in D.C.

Headed into the 112th Congress, the city of New Orleans sent one of its favorite sons to Washington, D.C. to represent the 2nd Congressional District of Louisiana, Congressman Cedric Richmond. Elected at the age of 27, Richmond served in the Louisiana State Legislature for eight years before beginning his congressional tenure in his native Washington, D.C. While serving the Bayou state, Richmond was Chairman of the Louisiana State Legislature’s Judiciary Committee, and a member of the state’s Ways and Means and House Executive and Legislative Audit Committees.

Though defeated in 2008, Richmond never stopped campaigning for Louisiana’s 2nd Congressional District. Combined with the endorsement of President Barack Obama and a stellar political campaign, Richmond’s election was one of the few success storied for Democrats in the 2010 midterms, winning by 64%.

A congressman for less than three months, Representative Richmond is very busy. While he and his constituents push forward after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, Richmond keeps the White House focused on rebuilding efforts at home. He has already co-sponsored legislation to restore Louisiana’s coastal areas affected by the deepwater horizon oil spill. The first term congressman is also pushing the use of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) in his state to help ease financial burdens as citizens rebuild. Regarding the current political discourse surrounding America’s debt and troubling entitlements, Richmond has stated that he “also plan[s] to work to strengthen retirement security without adding to the deficit.”

In the wake of the 2010 Census, with an eye toward redistricting, Louisiana is set to lose one of its seven congressional districts, after which point, Richmond will be the only remaining Democrat representing Louisiana in the United States House of Representatives. A former chairman of the Louisiana Legislative Black Caucus, Richmond is an experienced and a well-seasoned public servant whose social and political impact extends well beyond Louisiana’s 2nd congressional district.

Representative Richmond is an alumnus of Morehouse College, Tulane School of Law and the Harvard University executive program at the John F. Kennedy School of Government.