Senior FEMA leaders (left to right) Louisiana Recovery Office Deputy Director of Programs Andre Cadogan, LRO Acting Executive Director Joe Threat and Region 6 Administrator Tony Russell meeting with Louisiana State Representative Cedric Richmond, Governor's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness Deputy Director Mark Riley and GOHSEP Assistant Deputy Director for Disaster Recovery Mark DeBosier
Richmond was elected and served as a member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from the 101st district (Orleans Parish) from 2000 to 2011.[14] He was elected shortly after his 27th birthday and was one of the youngest legislators ever to serve in Louisiana when he took office. He served as the chairman of the House Committee on Judiciary and as a member of the House Ways and Means Committee, House Executive Committee, and the Legislative Audit Advisory Council.[15]
U.S. House of Representatives
Richmond was elected to the US House of Representatives from Louisiana's 2nd congressional district for the first time in 2010. He took office in 2011. He was reelected in 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018, and 2020. In 2012, Richmond publicly opposed a plan for Louisiana to redirect federal hurricane-recovery funds toward Superdome renovations, specifically raising concerns about the priorities of the Louisiana Stadium and Exposition District's facility funding.[16]
That year Richmond defended his Republican colleague Vance McAllister, who had become embroiled in an alleged adultery scandal. Richmond said that he associated the controversy around McAllister with "gotcha moments" in which the "two parties in this country have gone overboard...and taken joy in the pain of their supposed opponents".[18]
Richmond was one of a few Democrats who voted to authorize the Keystone XL pipeline.[19] In 2020, he was described as the fifth-biggest recipient of money from fossil fuel donors among House Democrats. The League of Conservation Voters gave him one of the lowest ratings of all Democratic members of Congress.[20]
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 accused Moreno of drug use, and she criticized him for his disqualification from the 2005 New Orleans City Council "D" district election.[23]
Later in 2008, the Louisiana Supreme Court suspended Richmond's law license for six months in a 5–2 decision. It found that he had falsified a sworn statement claiming more than two years of residency in New Orleans's "D" district in order to be eligible for the district's city council seat.[24]
Most analysts considered Richmond a strong favorite to retake this 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 second district was the most Democratic district in the country to be represented by a Republican. Richmond won the November 2 election with 65% of the vote.[26]
Richmond's campaign received almost $113,000 from the oil and gas sector, which donated more than any other sector to his campaign.[19] He was reelected with 63.6% of the vote.
In January 2017, Richmond became involved in an argument with Republican lawmakers over whether a particular painting should continue to hang in the United States Capitol. The painting shows police officers apprehending suspects, and the police are depicted as pigs. It was painted by someone from Richmond's district who had won a local award, and Republicans objected to it.[28] Richmond said that escalating the issue might "open up Pandora's Box" because there are other paintings that some people might also find offensive.[29]
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 said the joke was not meant to be sexual.[30] "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."[30]
↑"Members". New Democrat Coalition. Archived from the original on February 8, 2018. Retrieved February 2, 2018.
↑Marcos, Cristina (January 13, 2017). "Democrat re-hangs painting depicting cops as pigs". The Hill. Archived from the original on January 12, 2017. Retrieved January 13, 2017. The painting has inflamed tensions on Capitol Hill between the two parties. The Hill asked Rep. Cedric Richmond (D-La.), chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, if the painting would need someone to monitor it around the clock to prevent further removals. "No," Richmond replied. "We might just have to kick somebody's ass and stop them, though."
↑"CBC: 'We may just have to kick somebody's ass' over painting removal". Politico. January 10, 2017. Archived from the original on January 12, 2017. Retrieved January 13, 2017. Richmond said any escalation of the issue might "open up Pandora's Box." "I'm looking at some paintings that people could probably find some offense to," he said. "So you just open up Pandora's Box to, I think, anarchy when it comes to the art around this building." "I think it would be a bad move. I think politically it would be an awful move to do that," he continued.
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