White House Infrastructure Leader Landrieu Shifts to Biden Re-election

Image Courtesy the White House

Landrieu traveled more than 119,000 miles around the country to promote infrastructure investment and announce projects selected for funding.

Mitch Landrieu, who oversaw the launch of the $1.2-trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, is leaving his post as White House director of infrastructure implementation to become a co-chair of President Joe Biden’s re-election campaign. Jan. 12 will be Landrieu's last day in his current post, the White House said on Jan. 7.

Natalie Quillian, Biden's deputy chief of staff, will then lead the administration’s team for IIJA implementation, a White House official said in a statement.

Quillian currently oversees the broader effort to implement legislation enacted in the administration’s first two years and has shepherded the Biden administration's Investing in America brand and implementation strategy, an effort that is set to ramp up this year, according to the official. Infrastructure will play a key role in that program.

Biden Campaign Manager Julie Chávez Rodriguez said in an emailed statement that she is "thrilled" that Landrieu is joining the campaign organization. She praised Landrieu's work on infrastructure, saying the issue is "critical to our re-election effort."

Landrieu, also a senior adviser to Biden and the former mayor of New Orleans, had traveled the nation to promote the infrastructure law and announce funding approvals for a wide array of projects. Biden said in a statement that since Landrieu was named to the White House infrastructure post in November 2021, he has logged more than 119,000 miles in travel, visiting almost 150 cities across the U.S. to hear from governors, mayors, labor unions and private companies to advance infrastructure projects.

The Associated General Contractors of America wishes Landrieu well in his new position, says Brian Turmail, the group's vice president-public affairs and strategic initiatives.

AGC will seek to work with Quillian “to find ways to accelerate review and approvals for many of the infrastructure projects that have had funding announced but are still awaiting the completion of their federal reviews,” Turmail also says.

A Nov. 9 update from the White House said the administration had announced nearly $400 billion in IIJA funding, including more than 40,000 projects and funding awards. As of the report's release, the law's $300 billion for highways and bridges had supported more than 7,800 bridge repair projects and the start of upgrades on 135,000 miles of roads.

Tom Ichniowski has been writing about the federal government as ENR’s Washington Bureau Chief since the George H.W. Bush administration, and he has covered at least five major highway bills. A recognized expert on government policy on infrastructure and regulation, Tom is also a Baltimore native and Orioles fan who grew up rooting for Brooks and Frank Robinson. He is a graduate of Columbia College and Columbia’s graduate school of journalism, where he once used “unrelentless” in a headline.

Post a comment to this article

Coinciding with the release of the new 2024 Top 400 Contractors list, this annual webinar dives into the results of the Top 400 survey. We'll bring together a panel of executives from the largest contracting firms to discuss the industry’s pressing issues, from workforce challenges to data security.