Mitchell Joseph Landrieu[1] (/ˈlændruː/ LAN-drew;[2] born August 16, 1960) is an American lawyer and politician who served as Mayor of New Orleans from 2010 to 2018.

In 2007, he won a second term as lieutenant governor in the October 20, 2007 nonpartisan blanket primary by defeating two Republicans: State Representative Gary J.

[4] On November 14, 2021, President Joe Biden announced that Landrieu would serve as Senior Advisor responsible for coordinating the implementation of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

Prior to public service, Landrieu practiced law for 16 years and became a mediator, focusing on alternative dispute resolution.

He is a member of the Supreme Court Task Force on Alternative Dispute Resolution which was responsible for developing the pilot mediation program in Orleans Parish.

Landrieu was elected to the Louisiana House of Representatives in 1987, where he served for sixteen years in the seat previously held by his sister and before her, his father.

As a leader of the “Young Turks,” Landrieu advocated a non-partisan approach to governing and pushed for fiscal reform in the early 1990s, when the state was in a precarious financial situation.

Landrieu led this coalition, often against Democratic Governor Edwin Edwards, to restructure government instead of cutting healthcare programs and raising fees.

Later, in partnership with Republican Governor Mike Foster in 1999, Landrieu led an effort to have the state's $4.4 billion tobacco settlement placed into a trust, allowing the Legislature to only allocate the interest earned every year.

One of Landrieu's most ambitious projects as Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana has been the creation of the World Cultural Economic Forum (WCEF).

In a field of six candidates, Landrieu garnered 53 percent of the vote and won outright in the 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.

When Hurricanes Katrina and Rita hit New Orleans and the Gulf Coast in 2005, the lieutenant governor was involved in the emergency response.

After commanding portions of the hurricane response and recovery, Landrieu was tasked to lead the effort to rebuild the state's tourism industry.

He believed that government in many instances should steer, not row—that it is a facilitator, with the ability to link public, private, not-for-profit, and faith organizations, and help each of them leverage their collective assets.

Under his leadership, the Commission overhauled the probation and parole systems for youth offenders, established violence prevention programs, and studied the connection between domestic abuse and juvenile delinquency.

Before Hurricane Katrina the incumbent Ray Nagin was widely expected to be reelected with little difficulty, but post-disaster problems and controversies had left many New Orleanians interested in new leadership.

When Landrieu was sworn in, the recovery from Hurricane Katrina had stalled, the city teetered on bankruptcy and the New Orleans Police Department was under federal investigation.

"[15] PSG senior partner David Osborne observed that Landrieu had "inherited the least competent city government [he'd] ever seen in this country and the most corrupt".

[15][16] Landrieu promoted recovery by fast-tracking over 100 projects and securing billions in federal funding from FEMA and HUD for schools, hospitals, parks, playgrounds and critical infrastructure particularly roads and drainage.

[4] Landrieu immediately established clearer command and control, instituting a Deputy Mayor system and a new organizational chart for the nearly 4,000 employees and $1 billion total budget.

Making public safety a high priority, Landrieu introduced a comprehensive murder-reduction strategy, "NOLA for Life," which launched in 2012.

In recent years and under the Mayor's leadership, the city's criminal court system has implemented pretrial services, electronic monitoring and alternatives to detention that focus on risk.

Shortly after taking office during his second mayoral term, Landrieu announced the appointment of Ronal W. Serpas as the new Superintendent of the New Orleans Police Department until the latter's resignation in August 2014.

[24] As the Confederate monuments came down on his orders, Landrieu made an address explaining the decision, which quickly went viral,[25] and received praise in national media outlets.

[4] Landrieu was one of the participants in filmmaker Spike Lee's documentaries When The Levees Broke: A Requiem In Four Acts and If God Is Willing and Da Creek Don't Rise.

[28] At his inauguration, Landrieu joined with colleagues in unveiling a bipartisan policy agenda that, at a time of partisan gridlock in Washington, D.C., emphasized local leadership on issues such as repair of infrastructure, ensuring affordable healthcare, and fostering economic growth and opportunity.

[4] On May 5, 2023, he appeared on TV to field questions on the White House response to the national debt limit deadline, the banking crisis and the state of the U.S. economy with special attention to the April 2023 better than expected jobs metric.