Cao, a Republican elected in 2008 in a heavily-Democratic district in New Orleans, said that he gets along very well with Obama on a personal level, though many other GOP lawmakers are more critical of the president.

“I love the president, and I believe he truly likes me,” Cao told the New Orleans Times-Picayune in a profile published on Thursday.

Cao has backed Obama on several major initiatives, voting for Wall Street reform and a repeal of the ban on openly gay and lesbian members of the military. Cao also voted for healthcare reform the first time in the House, but pulled his support after restrictions on funding for abortion were weakened in the final version of the legislation.