Jeffrey Martin Landry (born December 23, 1970) is an American politician and attorney serving since 2024 as the 57th governor of Louisiana. A member of the Republican Party, he served from 2016 to 2024 as the 45th attorney general of Louisiana and from 2011 to 2013 as the U.S. representative for Louisiana's 3rd congressional district.
Born in St. Martinville, Louisiana, Landry graduated from the University of Louisiana, Lafayette and Loyola University New Orleans College of Law. He was a member of the Louisiana National Guard, which he joined while in high school, for 11 years. While in college, Landry worked as a police officer and sheriff's deputy. He ran for a seat in the Louisiana State Senate in 2007 but narrowly lost. He was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2010, serving one term.
Landry defeated incumbent Louisiana attorney general Buddy Caldwell in 2015, and was reelected in 2019 with over 66% of the vote. During his tenure, he supported Louisiana's abortion ban, advocated for prayer in public schools, and pushed back against Governor John Bel Edwards's administration's advocacy of LGBTQ rights. Landry won the 2023 Louisiana gubernatorial election with a majority of the vote in the first round. As governor, he has signed several criminal justice bills, as well as legislation allowing the carrying of concealed weapons without a permit. He signed legislation requiring that the Ten Commandments be displayed in public school classrooms. A preliminary court injunction blocked the law for violating the Establishment Clause. On February 20, 2026, the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals vacated that ruling by a 12 to 6 vote, allowing the law to be implemented while challenges are pending.
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Early life, education, and career
Landry was born in St. Martinville, Louisiana, on December 23, 1970, to Al and Edna (née Bienvenu) Landry. He is the eldest of four children. His mother was a teacher at Trinity Catholic School in St. Martinville. His father was an architect and businessman.
Landry graduated from St. Martinville High School, where he was a wide receiver on the high school football team. After graduating from high school, he held various jobs, including sugarcane farm worker, police officer for the village of Parks, and St. Martin Parish sheriff's deputy. He also spent 11 years in the Louisiana Army National Guard.
During his time as a St. Martin Parish deputy, he shared a rental home in St. Martinville with two friends, one a childhood friend, and the other a fellow deputy. The fellow deputy smuggled about $10,000 worth of cocaine and stashed it underneath their home. Once his roommates caught on to the crime, they turned him in to the police. The police executed a search warrant, which Landry signed. After the home was searched, his roommate lost his job and went to prison. After Landry's opponent in an acrimonious 2010 Republican primary election raised the incident, District Attorney J. Phil Haney said that Landry was never implicated in a crime, and Landry said he remained a reserve deputy until 2004.
Landry attended the University of Southwestern Louisiana (which later became the University of Louisiana at Lafayette), graduating in 1999 with an environmental science degree. In 2001, he enrolled in Southern University Law School as a part-time student; he transferred to Loyola University New Orleans College of Law in 2003 as a full-time student, and received his J.D. in December 2004. He then became an attorney and businessman in New Iberia.
2007 State Senate election
In 2007, Landry ran for Louisiana's 22nd Senate district when incumbent Republican state senator Craig Romero was term-limited. In the general election, he faced Democratic state Representative Troy Hebert of Jeanerette; Hebert later declared himself an Independent. Hebert defeated Landry, 51% to 49%.
U.S. House of Representatives
Elections
Landry entered the race to represent Louisiana's 3rd congressional district after Democratic incumbent Charlie Melancon relinquished the seat to run for U.S. Senate. Landry won the Republican nomination in the October 2 runoff election, defeating former Speaker of the Louisiana House of Representatives Hunt Downer of Houma, Louisiana, 19,657 votes to 10,549 votes (65%–35%).
Louisiana lost a congressional district due to out-migration during Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Landry's district was dismantled and its territory split among three neighboring districts. Landry was drawn into the same district as fellow Republican Charles Boustany of the neighboring 7th District. The new district retained Landry's district number—the 3rd—but geographically and demographically was more Boustany's district; Landry retained only the western third of his old district.
Citizens United and Phyllis Schlafly's Eagle Forum political action committee endorsed Landry. He led Boustany in third-quarter 2011 fundraising, $251,000 to $218,000. According to the Federal Election Commission, Boustany led in cash on hand, $1.1 million–$402,000.
In the November 6 election, Landry trailed Boustany by 45,596 votes. Boustany led the five-candidate field with 139,123 votes (44.7%); Landry received 93,527 (30%). Democrat Ron Richard procured 67,070 votes (21.5%); and 7,908 votes (2.5%) and 3,765 votes (1.2%) were cast for Republican Bryan Barrilleaux and Libertarian Jim Stark, respectively. Because none of the candidates received a majority, Boustany and Landry went into a runoff contest held on December 8.
Boustany defeated Landry with 58,820 votes (60.9%), to Landry's 37,764 (39.1%). Landry prevailed in three of the ten parishes in the revised district, all of which he then represented, including his home parish of St. Martin, his residence of Iberia, and St. Mary Parish.
Tenure
During his tenure in Congress, Landry was known as an advocate for the oil and natural gas industry. He heavily criticized President Obama, saying, "Republicans continue to criticize the president for being anti-oil. He says that's not true, but his actions don't match his rhetoric."
Landry made national headlines by holding up a sign saying "Drilling=jobs" during Obama's national jobs plan speech in September 2011. After the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, Landry opposed the liability cap on BP while supporting the Gulf Hurricane Protection Project.
In a June 2012 appearance on a radio program produced by the American Center for Law and Justice, Landry baselessly claimed that the Obama administration was "granting special status or waivers to Muslims as they go through TSA screenings." No such religious exemption existed.
In July 2012, Landry made local headlines when he declared his opposition to the establishment of a minor in LGBT studies at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, and wrote a letter to the university's president, Joe Savoie, asking him to drop the minor. Savoie declined to do so, writing that the program "did not require budgetary allocations or divert resources from other areas" and that the university had a responsibility to impartially provide "an opportunity for investigation, analysis, and understanding" of controversial social issues.
Attorney General of Louisiana (2016–2024)
Elections
On February 24, 2014, Landry announced his challenge to Caldwell, who was first elected in 2007 as a Democrat. The Democratic nominee, Geri Broussard Baloney, an African-American lawyer from Garyville, endorsed Landry in the runoff contest. After he assumed office, Landry named Baloney's daughter, Quendi Baloney, to a position in his administration. The Baton Rouge Advocate questioned whether the appointment was made on merit or for political reasons. Landry defended his choice by citing the education and experience of Ms. Baloney, a graduate of George Washington University and Loyola University New Orleans College of Law who was formerly employed by the United States Department of Justice. She investigated housing discrimination by Donald Sterling, the owner of the Los Angeles Clippers. Baloney and her colleagues secured a $2.7 million settlement from Sterling.
In August 2018, Landry indicated that he might forego his bid for reelection as attorney general in 2019 and instead challenge Governor John Bel Edwards, who was seeking a second term. Landry said that people everywhere approached him and urged him to seek the governorship. He said he might run unless U.S. Senator John N. Kennedy decided to enter the race, and called upon interested Republican candidates to announce their intentions. Landry had broken with Edwards on numerous political issues, including a 2018 voter referendum on requiring unanimous jury consent for felony convictions, rather than 10 of 12 jurors. Only Louisiana and Oregon have the lower threshold.
In November, Landry announced that he would not run for governor but instead seek reelection as attorney general.
Landry chairs the Louisiana Committee for a Conservative Majority, which targeted "Republican in Name Only" (RINO) state legislators in the 2019 elections. He has said he wants party faithful to rally around conservative orthodoxy, rather than a big tent.
On October 12, 2019, Landry was reelected by a 2–1 margin.
In December 2022, an investigation by The Advocate revealed that, starting in 2017, Landry misspent campaign funds on part of a car note on a Chevrolet Suburban. The Louisiana Board of Ethics decided not to take any action on the matter because the statute of limitations for action had expired. The $322 monthly payments ended in 2019 and totaled about $11,600.
Tenure
Landry opposes access to abortion, and argued in favor of Louisiana's abortion ban. He recommended that anyone who disagrees with the policy, without exception for rape or incest or age, move to another state.
In August 2022, Landry twice urged the Louisiana State Bond Commission to delay funding for a power station that charges drainage pumps in New Orleans over the city's decriminalization of abortion following the state's near-total ban of abortion in July 2022. In September 2022, the commission approved the funding despite Landry's objections.
In August 2012, Landry urged the University of Louisiana at Lafayette to eliminate its lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender studies minor, arguing that it did not align with the college's mission of preparing students for employment.
In December 2021, Landry urged Louisiana State University president William Tate to take disciplinary action against tenured mass communications professor Robert Mann for referring to one of Landry's staff members, Lauryn Sudduth, as a "flunkie" on Twitter. Mann's tweet read, "Louisiana AG Jeff Landry sending some flunkie to the LSU Faculty Senate meeting today to read a letter attacking covid vaccines is quite the move from a guy who considers himself 'pro-life.'"
Landry has urged bipartisan cooperation on antitrust enforcement, and endorsed President Joe Biden's nomination of Jonathan Kanter as Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division.
Soon after taking office as attorney general, Landry became embroiled in a public dispute with Governor Edwards over a lawsuit regarding the Common Core State Standards Initiative, which both men opposed. Edwards said the state would drop the appeal of a federal lawsuit to block the implementation of Common Core, declaring the lawsuit moot because of new federal legislation, the Every Student Succeeds Act, and a state legislative compromise agreed upon in 2015, the last year of the Bobby Jindal administration. Landry first replied that he would review the case and could proceed with the appeal to the federal court. Edwards wrote to Landry: "As in any case the client, not the attorney, should ultimately make the decisions on the course of action, and I have decided this case will not proceed." A few days later, Landry announced that, having reviewed the matter, he would defer to Edwards and drop the suit.
Governor of Louisiana (2024–present)
2023 election
On October 5, 2022, Landry launched his campaign for governor of Louisiana in the 2023 election. He was endorsed by the Republican Party of Louisiana and former president Donald Trump. In September 2023, the Louisiana Board of Ethics charged Landry with accepting a gift in relation to his position as state attorney general. Landry was also accused of accepting private air travel from campaign donors. Furthermore, the charging document claims Landry did not report the complimentary flights in financial disclosures to the Ethics Board. Landry called the charges "election interference" and blamed Governor Edwards, who appoints board members.
Landry was elected governor in the primary election on October 14, 2023, with 52% of the vote, averting a runoff election. His closest competitor, Democrat and former Louisiana transportation secretary Shawn Wilson, received 25% of the vote. Voter turnout was low in Louisiana's 2023 gubernatorial election, with only about 23% of registered voters casting a vote.
Tenure
On January 7, 2024, Landry took a ceremonial oath and delivered his inaugural address on the steps of the Louisiana State Capitol; the event was held a day before he took office as governor due to expectations for bad weather. The Louisiana state constitution requires gubernatorial terms to begin at noon on the second Monday in January.
Two weeks after taking office, on January 22, 2024, Landry signed a redistricting bill the state legislature had passed to redraw Louisiana's congressional districts, in order to comply with a federal court order requiring that a second Black-majority district be created in the state under the terms of the Voting Rights Act. In May, he signed a bill that redrew Louisiana's seven State Supreme Court districts for the first time in over two decades, creating a second Black-majority district in the process per the recommendation of five of the state's Supreme Court justices.
Several political and civil rights groups have claimed the proposed maps are still gerrymandered, with Landry signing the legislation with the intent of unseating Congressman Garret Graves, who endorsed Stephen Waguespack during the gubernatorial election.
In March 2024, Landry signed several bills that reversed criminal justice reforms initiated by the 2017 Justice Reinvestment Initiative. He eliminated parole, dramatically cut the ability of convicts to earn points for good behavior in prison, increased penalties for carjackings and weapons offenses, and permitted two more methods of execution (nitrogen gas and electrocution). Within the first two years of Landry's tenure, the number of state prisoners increased by about 8%. He signed a bill to allow people to carry concealed handguns without permits.
On February 10, 2025, Landry announced that Louisiana had finalized its new execution protocol, allowing executions to be carried out there for the first time in 15 years. On March 18, 2025, Jessie Hoffman Jr., who was convicted of murder in 1996, was executed by nitrogen hypoxia, becoming the first person executed in Louisiana since 2010; Louisiana also became the second state to conduct a nitrogen gas execution, after Alabama.
In June 2024, Louisiana became the first state to mandate posting the Ten Commandments in every public school classroom. Landry signed the bill into law and called it "one of my favorites". Days before signing it, he said: "I can't wait to be sued" over the law. Hours after its signing, four civil liberties groups challenged the law. Landry said that the law's implementation showed that the Republican "majority gets to rule" in Louisiana, while instructing parents who were opposed to the display of the Commandments: "Tell your child not to look at them". A district judge blocked the bill but Attorney General of Louisiana Liz Murrill revealed plans to appeal the decision.
U.S. special envoy to Greenland (2025–present)
On December 22, 2025, President Donald Trump appointed Landry as "United States Special Envoy to Greenland", a territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. The role was described as informal and one-sided, and Landry is not a formal envoy or diplomat to Greenland, with no diplomatic status or accreditation in Denmark. Landry said he would work to "make Greenland part of the U.S." Denmark condemned the move, and both the Danish government and the Greenlandic home rule government demanded respect for its borders. Denmark summoned the American ambassador, Ken Howery. Danish government officials were described as "incensed" at attempts to undermine Denmark's sovereignty, and Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen called Landry's statements "completely unacceptable", adding, "we insist that everyone—including the US—must show respect for the territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Denmark."
Personal life
Landry and his wife, Sharon Landry (née LeBlanc), have one son. He and his family are Roman Catholic.