Former Black caucus chair Cedric Richmond to leave Congress and join Biden White House

 

Louisiana Rep. Cedric Richmond will join President-elect Joe Biden's White House, departing the New Orleans-area House of Representatives seat he has held since 2011.

Richmond will serve as senior adviser to the President and director of the White House Office of Public Engagement. The 47-year-old former chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus was a co-chair of Biden's presidential campaign and a close ally during the 2020 race. He is now set to become the highest-ranking Black aide to the President-elect.

Richmond spoke about his new role Tuesday at the same time the transition team announced other top White House roles. The congressman said he would resign from his seat before January 20, the day of Biden's inauguration.

"And so this new role will allow me to offer advice to the President when he wants it, maybe sometimes when he doesn't want it," he said.

A confidant, early supporter and loyal surrogate during the campaign, Richmond provides a direct line to House Democratic leadership, which has come under fire from its own caucus after an election that saw its majority thinned and set off recriminations between moderate members and outspoken progressives. Democrats have been anxious about the prospect of House members leaving to join the administration and potentially losing those seats to Republicans, but Richmond's district is deep blue and news of his departure has already set off a scramble among state Democrats eager to fill it.

Calling it "one of the hardest decisions" of his life, Richmond said, "I am not leaving the people of Louisiana. I am not leaving the people of the second Congressional District. I am New Orleans through and through. I bleed black and gold."