• Office Sought: Senator, Louisiana
• Birth Date: Nov. 23, 1955
• Occupation: Businesswoman
• Spouse: Frank Snellings
• Religion: Catholic
• Web site: http://www.landrieu.senate.gov/

Education

Louisiana State University, BA

Mary Landrieu was born in Arlington, Va., and lives in New Orleans. Her father was Moon Landrieu, mayor of New Orleans and secretary of Housing and Urban Development under President Carter. She graduated from Ursuline Academy High School in 1973 and from Louisiana State University in 1977.

She spent 10 years in the real estate business, specializing in townhouse development. At age 23, she was elected to the Louisiana Legislature in 1979 and re-elected in 1983.

She was elected state treasurer in 1987, winning re-election without opposition in 1991. She ran unsuccessfully for governor in 1995.

Landrieu won a 1996 U.S. Senate race by little more than 12,000 votes over Republican Woody Jenkins and was elected to a second term in 2002 with 52 percent of the vote.

Landrieu and her husband, attorney Frank Snellings, have two children.