Matthew Willard
American politician
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Matthew Willard (born November 5, 1988) is an American politician serving as a member of the New Orleans City Council since January 12, 2026. He previously served as a member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from the 97th district.
Matthew Willard | |
|---|---|
| Member of the New Orleans City Council from the at-large district Position 1 | |
| Assumed office January 12, 2026 | |
| Preceded by | Helena Moreno |
| Minority Leader of the Louisiana House of Representatives | |
| In office January 8, 2024 – October 29, 2025 | |
| Preceded by | Sam Jenkins |
| Succeeded by | Kyle Green |
| Member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from the 97th district | |
| In office January 13, 2020 – January 12, 2026 | |
| Preceded by | Joseph Bouie |
| Succeeded by | Ed Murray |
| Personal details | |
| Born | November 5, 1988 New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S. |
| Party | Democratic |
| Education | Louisiana State University (attended) University of New Orleans (BS) |
Early life and education
Willard was born and raised in New Orleans. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in marketing from the University of New Orleans.[1][2]
Career
From 2012 to 2016, Willard worked as an account executive at Schulkens Communications. He then joined Fluence Analytics, working as a growth specialist and later senior manager for marketing and communications. He was elected to the Louisiana House of Representatives in November 2019 and assumed office on January 13, 2020.[3]
In December 2023 Willard was elected as leader of the House Democratic caucus.[4]
Willard was selected as a Future Caucus Innovation Fellow for the 2024 Healthcare Innovation and 2025-2026 Prenatal-to-Three cohorts for young legislators invested in building bipartisan policy to address key healthcare issues.[5][6]
Willard resigned from the Louisiana House in January 2026 after being elected to the New Orleans City Council.[7]
