Cedric Richmond Biography
Who Is Cedric Richmond?
Born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana, Cedric Richmond was elected to the state legislature at age 26. He moved on to a U.S. congressional seat in 2011, finally becoming a member of the House Judiciary and Ways and Means committees and changing into chair of the Congressional Black Caucus. After co-chairing Joe Biden’s profitable 2020 presidential marketing campaign, Richmond was appointed senior adviser to the president-elect and director of the White House Office of Public Engagement.
Early Life and Education
Cedric Levon Richmond was born on September 13, 1973, in japanese New Orleans, Louisiana. Enduring the demise of his father when he was simply 7 years previous, Richmond credit his mom, Maple, and the leisure coaches at a neighborhood playground with offering agency steerage.
Richmond grew to become a multi-sport star at Benjamin Franklin High School and continued enjoying baseball at Morehouse College, incomes his B.A. in 1995. He went on to attend Tulane University School of Law and full the Harvard University Executive Education Program on the John F. Kennedy School of Government.
Louisiana State Legislature
Richmond launched into a prolonged political profession along with his election to the Louisiana State Legislature from District 101 in 1999. A Democrat, he rose to grow to be chairman of the Judiciary Committee and co-chairman of the Legislative Audit Advisory Council, his accomplishments together with the creation of the State New Markets Tax Credit program that introduced greater than $250 million to areas devastated by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
Richmond’s recognition helped him survive some bumpy patches throughout this era: He misrepresented his major residence whereas in search of election to the New Orleans City Council in 2005, resulting in his disqualification from the race and temporary suspension of his license to follow legislation, and was concerned in a struggle at a pool corridor in 2007.
U.S. Congressman
Following an unsuccessful try at a U.S. congressional seat in 2008, Richmond earned the endorsement of President Barack Obama en path to easily defeating incumbent Republican Ánh “Joseph” Cao for Louisiana’s 2nd Congressional District in November 2010.
Committees and Legislation
A member of the New Democrat Coalition since his early days within the U.S. House of Representatives, Richmond additionally joined the House Committee on Homeland Security, the Judiciary Committee and the Ways and Means Committee.
Richmond sponsored 90 bills throughout his decade-long tenure within the chamber, together with the Community Lending and Small Business Jobs Act of 2013, the American Housing and Economic Mobility Act in 2018 and the Beyond the Box for Higher Education Act of 2019. He additionally emerged as a distinguished congressional voice for essential discussions about COVID-19 relief and police reform in 2020.
While Richmond regularly pushed for compensation for recovering coastal communities, he came under scrutiny for accepting a whole lot of hundreds of {dollars} in marketing campaign donations from the oil and gasoline business and reportedly turning a blind eye to the well being issues brought on by pollution in his district. Additionally, Richmond was certainly one of a small group of House Democrats to vote to approve the controversial Keystone XL Pipeline in 2015.
Congressional Black Caucus and House Leadership
Following his reelection in 2016, Richmond was named chair of the forty sixth Congressional Black Caucus. He instantly sought to make use of his sway to examine the agenda of President Donald Trump, levying criticism of the journey ban that seemingly focused residents of Muslim-majority nations and opposing the president’s nomination of Jeff Sessions for lawyer basic. Although his time period got here to an finish in early 2019, he retained his affect as chair of the Black Caucus Foundation’s board of administrators.
Richmond was appointed assistant to Majority Whip Jim Clyburn in 2018 which, alongside along with his project to the highly effective Ways and Means Committee in 2020, seemingly heralded his development to the higher ranges of House Democratic management. However, the congressman introduced he was relinquishing his seat shortly after incomes election to a sixth time period in November 2020.
Biden Campaign Co-Chairman and White House Adviser
In May 2019, Biden tapped the Louisiana congressman to co-chair his nationwide presidential marketing campaign. Along with shoring up Biden’s help within the Black neighborhood, Richmond supplied a much-needed dose of tough love following the candidate’s underwhelming showings within the early phases of the race, spurring a turnaround that started with a powerful victory within the February 2020 South Carolina major.
After Biden was declared the winner of the electoral school vote by most main media retailers on November 7, 2020, Richmond co-chaired the transition workforce earlier than his appointment as senior adviser to the president-elect and director of the White House Office of Public Engagement.
Personal Life
Richmond married Raquel Greenup, a New Orleans-based marketing consultant and realtor, in May 2015. Their son, Cedric Jr., loved a breakout second along with his delivery of the Pledge of Allegiance on day 4 of the 2020 Democratic National Convention.
Richmond grew to become the star of the annual Congressional Baseball Game after taking his U.S. House seat in 2011, incomes reward from The New York Times as “The Babe Ruth of Congress.”
In May 2019, Richmond was inducted into the Tulane Law School Hall of Fame.
