Lawrence Bellman

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Lawrence Bellman
Bellmann.jpg
13th United States Secretary of Energy
In office
April 24, 2013 – March 11, 2016
PresidentRashid Baharia
Preceded byEric Tsu
Succeeded byRyan Cherry
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Louisiana's 2nd district
In office
January 3, 1999 – April 23, 2013
Preceded byJohn Barber
Succeeded byBernardt Hill
Personal details
Born
Lawrence Arthur Bellman

March 3, 1956 (age 64)
New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
Political partyDemocratic Party
SpouseSandra Jackson (m.1980)
Children5
EducationMorehouse College (BA) Tulane University (JD)

Lawrence Arthur Bellman (born March 3, 1956) is an American politician who served as the 13th United States Secretary of Energy from 2013 to 2016. He was the second African-American and first person from the deep south to hold the position. A member of the Democratic Party, Bellman previously served as the U.S. Representative for Louisiana's 2nd congressional district from 1999 to 2013. While in congress, he gained national recognition for his roles in the federal responses to Hurricane Katrina and the 2011 Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

Bellman was the Democratic candidate for United States Senate in Louisiana in the state's 2016 senate race. Bellman was defeated by the incumbent Republican, but garnered 45.5 percent of the vote in what was considered by experts to be an exceptional showing in a highly polarized national environment.

He is currently running in the 2020 Senate race in Louisiana and is currently expected to advance to a runoff along with former Senator Hypolite Gaspard.