Cedric Levon Richmond (born September 13, 1973) is an American politician in the Democratic Party who has been the U.S. Representative for Louisiana's 2nd congressional district since 2011. His district includes most of New Orleans. Since January 3, 2017, Richmond has served as Chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus.
Video Cedric Richmond
Early life and education
He was raised in New Orleans East, and attended public schools. Richmond's 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, Morehouse College, Tulane School of Law and the Harvard University executive program at the John F. Kennedy School of Government. While at Morehouse, Richmond played college baseball as a pitcher for the Morehouse Maroon Tigers in the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.
Maps Cedric Richmond
Louisiana legislature
He was the Louisiana State Representative for District 101 (Orleans Parish) from 2000 to 2011. Having been first elected shortly after his 27th birthday, at the time he took office he became one of the youngest legislators ever to serve in Louisiana. He served as the Chairman of the Committee on Judiciary and a member of the Ways and Means, House Executive, and Legislative Audit Advisory committees.
U.S. House of Representatives
In an across-the-aisle gesture which was rare in Congress at the time, Richmond in 2014 defended his Republican colleague Vance McAllister, who had become embroiled in an alleged adultery scandal. Richmond associated the controversy with "gotcha moments" in which the "two parties in this country have gone overboard...and taken joy in the pain of their supposed opponents".
On June 9, 2014, Richmond introduced the Honor Flight Act (H.R. 4812; 113th Congress), 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 war memorials built and dedicated to honor their service.
Until his election in 2015 to the Louisiana House of Representative, Richmond's special projects director was the African-American Democrat Jimmy Harris, a New Orleans lawyer.
On November 30, 2016, Richmond was elected to chair the Congressional Black Caucus in the 115th United States Congress.
Elections
- 2008
Richmond came in third place in the seven-candidate primary election for the Democratic nomination for Louisiana's 2nd congressional district, behind U.S. Representative William J. Jefferson and television newscaster Helena Moreno. During a primary debate, Richmond attempted to discredit Moreno with accusations of drug use, while she attempted to attack his personal integrity by bringing up his disqualification from the 2005 New Orleans City Council "D" District election. Later in 2008, Richmond's law license was suspended for 6 months by the State Supreme Court in a 5-2 decision after it was found that he falsified a sworn statement claiming greater than 2 years residency in New Orleans' "D" District in order to be eligible for the district's City Council position.
- 2010
Richmond challenged Republican incumbent Anh "Joseph" Cao for Louisiana's 2nd congressional district.
Richmond was the first candidate in the 2010 elections to have President Barack Obama appear in a television ad on his behalf.
Most pundits reckoned Richmond as a heavy favorite to retake the seat for the Democrats, even in what was forecast to be a Republican year nationally. With a Cook Partisan Voting Index of D+25, the 2nd was far and away the most Democratic district in the country to be represented by a Republican. The next most Democratic district on that list, Delaware's At-large congressional district, had a PVI of D+7. In 2008 Obama had carried the 2nd with a 74 percent of the vote, his fifth-best performance in a Southern district and his 35th best nationally.
Richmond won the November 2, 2010 election in the heavily Democratic majority-minority district with 65 percent of the vote.
- 2012
Committee assignments
- Committee on Homeland Security
- Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection, and Security Technologies
- Subcommittee on Transportation Security
- Committee on Small Business
Congressional Caucuses
- Congressional Black Caucus
- New Democrat Coalition
Controversy
In 2008 Richmond has his law license suspended for two months following a Louisiana Supreme Court decision in response to his false testimony that he had lived in District D for more than two years when he ran for a seat on the New Orleans City Council.
In January 2017, Richmond became involved in an argument with Republican law makers over the right to have a painting continue to hang in the Capitol. The painting in question shows police officers apprehending suspects, and the police are depicted as pigs. Richmond said that if the painting continues to be removed, "We may just have to kick somebody's ass." He went on to say that escalating the issue may "open up Pandoras Box" because there are other paintings that some people may also find offensive.
In March 2017 Richmond was criticized for making a crude joke about a controversial photograph of Kellyanne Conway kneeling on the Oval Office couch. Richmond appeared to compare Conway to Monica Lewinsky, 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 explained that the joke was not meant to be sexual.
Richmond in fact, did not apologize, he only clarified his remarks by stating "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."
Sports
Richmond is a star player in the annual Congressional Baseball Game. Richmond 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, 1.67 walks plus hits per inning pitched and 45 strikeouts in his 27 innings pitched in that span. In 2016, Republican team manager Joe Barton 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.
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
See also
- List of African-American United States Representatives
References
External links
- Congressman Cedric Richmond official U.S. House site
- Cedric Richmond for Congress
- Cedric Richmond at Curlie (based on DMOZ)
- Appearances on C-SPAN
- Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
- Profile at Project Vote Smart
- Financial information (federal office) at the Federal Election Commission
- Legislation sponsored at the Library of Congress
Source of article : Wikipedia
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