[4][5] Engineer by profession, Jean-Louis Léonard began his political career on the occasion of the 1983 municipal elections.
After his resignation as a municipal councillor of La Rochelle, he was again elected as a mayor of Châtelaillon-Plage on 21 November 1996.
In relations with the Charente-Maritime's general council, he is in charge of the direction schedule and tourist development thread.
In the 1993 legislative election, Jean-Louis Léonard defeated Michel Crépeau, mayor of La Rochelle since 1971 and MP of the Charente-Maritime's 1st constituency since 1973.
In 2002, the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) gained the Charente-Maritime's 2nd constituency, which had been won in 1997 by the socialist Bernard Grasset.
[10] In the 2012 legislative election, he was defeated by the socialist candidate Suzanne Tallard, mayor of Aytré since 2008.