Landrieu, Mary, 1955-

<p>Hailing from a political family with deep Louisiana roots, Mary L. Landrieu began building her political career in Baton Rouge. In 1996, after serving in the Louisiana legislature and as state treasurer, she became the first woman elected to a full term in the United States Senate from Louisiana. Landrieu came to Washington as a self-styled centrist Southern Democrat representing a state with a growing Republican electorate. During the Barack Obama administration, she voted for several major Democratic initiatives that cost her support among voters. Despite the political realignment happening back home, Landrieu forged significant victories for Louisiana on energy policy and disaster relief during her tenure in the Senate.</p>

<p>Mary Landrieu was born in Arlington, Virginia, on November 23, 1955, the oldest of nine children raised by Moon Landrieu, a lawyer who would go on to serve as mayor of New Orleans and Secretary of Housing and Urban Development under President Jimmy Carter, and Verna Landrieu. After graduating from Ursuline Academy in New Orleans, Mary Landrieu earned a degree in sociology from Louisiana State University in 1977. At age 24, she won election to the Louisiana house of representatives, becoming the youngest woman to serve in the state legislature. After eight years in the state house, Landrieu was elected Louisiana state treasurer, a position she held from 1988 to 1996. In 1988 she married Frank Snelling, and the couple adopted two children.</p>

<p>After an unsuccessful gubernatorial campaign in 1995, Landrieu seized the opportunity to pursue a seat in the United States Senate from Louisiana when John Bennett Johnston Jr. announced his retirement in 1996. Running in a presidential election year, Landrieu embraced much of the William J. (Bill) Clinton administration’s agenda: she supported welfare reform, a balanced budget, the death penalty, and abortion rights. She finished in the top two in the state’s open primary election and faced Republican Woody Jenkins in a runoff. In the general election, Landrieu prevailed by a narrow margin: 50.2 percent of the vote or about 5,800 votes out of a total of 1.7 million. In 2002 Landrieu garnered 46 percent of the vote in a crowded field of nine candidates and went on to win re-election in the December runoff with 52 percent of the vote.</p>

<p>Mary Loretta Landrieu (/ˈlændruː/ LAN-drew; born November 23, 1955) is an American politician, entrepreneur, and former Senator for the state of Louisiana. She is a member of the Democratic Party.</p>

<p>Born in Arlington, Virginia, Landrieu was raised in New Orleans, Louisiana. She is the daughter of Moon Landrieu, former New Orleans mayor and Secretary of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the sister of Mitch Landrieu, a former Mayor of New Orleans and Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana. She received her baccalaureate degree from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. After working as a real estate agent for several years, she was elected as a state representative (1980–1988) and state treasurer (1988–1996). She won a close race for the U.S. Senate in 1996; she was re-elected by increasing margins in competitive races in 2002 and 2008, but lost in 2014.</p>

<p>Landrieu came to national attention in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 after she publicly criticized the federal response to the natural disaster. Her opposition to the public option played a major role in the crafting of the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as she did not agree to support it until additional concessions were granted to support Louisiana's Medicaid system. In 2011, she became a cardinal (chair) of the Senate's Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee. She chaired the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship from 2009 to 2014, and chaired the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources from 2014 to 2015.</p>