Will Sutton: Cedric Richmond is done with electoral politics, but still in the game

Cedric Richmond turns 49 in a few days. After more than 20 years in politics, he’s made a decision about his political future.

“I have no intention of ever running for public office again,” he told me as we sipped coffee in Algiers Plaza on the New Orleans west bank.

After working on President Joe Biden’s legislative agenda, the COVID-19 pandemic response, hurricane and other storm disaster needs and major administration appointments, Richmond left his White House job as a senior adviser and director of the Office of Public Engagement in April to help Democratic National Committee Chair Jaime Harrison stop a midterm bloodbath. 

In an interview, Richmond discussed the switch and his political future.

Richmond had originally planned to stay with Biden through the midterm elections. But as he watched political debate decline, as he had more concern about safety at home and as he considered his family, he realized he needed to make a change. It was only five days after Biden’s inauguration, one of the highlights of Richmond’s career, when his longtime friend, barber Shawn Brock, was shot and killed at a New Orleans gas station at Crowder Boulevard and Interstate 10. Brock cut Richmond’s son’s hair the day before the inauguration. It was heartbreaking, but he pressed on.

Richmond stepped into Democratic politics at 26 years old when he was elected to the Louisiana State House. He was elected five times to represent a U.S. Congress district that includes Baton Rouge and New Orleans. He became chair of the Congressional Black Caucus. He was a co-chair of Biden’s presidential campaign.

He joined the Biden administration and talked frequently with the president. He offered advice, made calls, pulled strings. For 15 months, things got done.

He was in on conversations about the first Black woman to be on the U.S. Supreme Court.

People with Louisiana connections got important jobs. Former New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu was tapped to lead the president’s infrastructure program. Donald R. Cravins Jr., a former Opelousas state senator who was chief operating officer with the National Urban League, was appointed undersecretary for minority business development with the U.S. Department of Commerce. Clinton native Shalanda Young, former staff director of the United States House Committee on Appropriations, was appointed director of the Office of Management and Budget. “Those people are going to succeed whether I’m there or not,” he said.

Biden appreciated Richmond’s help, but said he needed him to take another role as a consultant for the Democratic National Committee, the party’s political arm. Richmond jumped at the opportunity to work on strategy, messaging and fundraising. 

It was a “natural fit,” he said, and one that allowed him to see his family and friends more.

Richmond, a former standout player at Morehouse College and star pitcher and hitter on the Congressional Democrats’ team, enjoyed being a little league baseball coach. He liked seeing the boys who had become men. He is godfather to the son of one. He was in the wedding of another. But because his weeks were spent in Washington, D.C., he wasn’t home enough to coach. His son, 8, hasn’t played Little League Baseball. He might now that Daddy’s home more.

With New Orleans as his base, Richmond is still talking with Biden, and also traveling and doing fundraising. In a few days, he’ll will host a fundraiser for former U.S. Rep. Karen Bass, a Los Angeles mayoral candidate who followed him as chair of the Congressional Black Caucus. He couldn’t do that if he worked in the White House. He wants his “north star” to be focused on good campaigns and good companies with a purpose. He just joined the Blink Charging board of directors.

His special assignment is to be the “defender and promoter of this president and the vice president,” and now “I can call people out a little bit more.”

But don’t expect him to do that in a campaign of his own. He said he wouldn’t wage a fight in the state without sharing the truth: Black and Brown people aren’t taking their jobs as Republicans allege.

And a Louisiana elected position would mean he would have to focus on our state. Richmond prefers the impact of helping Black and Brown people across the nation. 

To get his current job done, he said, he has to draw sharper contrasts. “It’ll get more harsh leading up to the midterms,” he said. 

When asked whether he’d even entertain the idea of running for office again, Richmond said “never.” I’ve got to think something could change, or Biden or someone will call some day and say, “We need you.”