It seemed to happen overnight. When I went to sleep, Mitch Landrieu was the mediocre mayor of New Orleans, facing lethargic public support and intense local disapproval. When I woke up, he was a future leader of the Democratic Party and a 2020 presidential contender. In New Orleans, many dissatisfied Democrats like me are now watching his ascension and wondering what the hell is going on.

A boost from the New York Times is partly to blame. In April, a brief mention in the Times identified Landrieu as a Democrat to watch, a “high-profile city executive” who might rival Joe Biden or Elizabeth Warren for the 2020 Democratic nomination. Before long, The Hill was calling Landrieu a “dark-horse Dem,” and CNN was referring to him as a “leading Democrat.”

But a nod from the Times isn’t the entire story. (It never is.) If Mitch Landrieu has emerged as a player on the national stage, it’s because there is a yawning void where exciting young Democrats should be.

Little about Landrieu is new or exciting. He’s your run-of-the-mill centrist Democrat, one who appeals to the left with illusory calls for progress even as he ingratiates himself with center-right supporters by straddling the ideological line. He’s a beneficiary of his family’s political dynasty and of the current vacuum in Democratic leadership that leaves pundits and party loyalists desperately grasping for any semblance of a fresh “new face.”

Never mind that Landrieu’s administration led New Orleans into this year’s hurricane season with its drainage system in shambles. Never mind that the form of centrism Landrieu is peddling—formalized in August under the recycled banner of “New Democracy”—is terminally confused. In this moment, with months of Trumpism behind us and many more to go, Landrieu has juice.