Editing Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana (section)

==Government and politics==
The parish is part of both [[Louisiana's 1st congressional district]] and [[Louisiana's 5th congressional district]]. Since the late 20th century most of the conservative, white-majority voters have left the Democratic Party and shifted to the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]]. African Americans have largely continued to support the Democratic Party and its candidates.

The parish government is governed by the [[Louisiana State Constitution]] and the Tangipahoa Parish Home Rule Charter. The Parish Government of Tangipahoa is headed by a parish president and a parish council (president-council government). The council is the legislative body of the parish, with authority under Louisiana State Constitution, the Parish Home Rule Charter, and laws passed by the [[Louisiana State Legislature]]. The Parish [[Sheriff]] is the chief law enforcement officer; other elected officers include the coroner, assessor, and clerk of court.

Keith Bardwell, [[justice of the peace]] for the parish's 8th [[Wards of the United States|ward]] ([[Robert, Louisiana]]), attracted attention in October 2009 for [[2009 Louisiana interracial marriage incident|refusing to officiate the wedding]] of an [[Interracial marriage|interracial couple]]. Bardwell, a justice of the peace for 34 years, had concluded that "most black society does not readily accept offspring of such relationships, and neither does white society". He said he does not perform weddings for [[interracial marriage]]s because "I don't want to put children in a situation they didn't bring on themselves."<ref>{{cite web | url= http://www.hammondstar.com/articles/2009/10/17/top_stories/8847.txt | archive-url= https://archive.today/20130125021302/http://www.hammondstar.com/articles/2009/10/17/top_stories/8847.txt | url-status= dead | archive-date= January 25, 2013 | title= JP refuses to marry couple | publisher= [[Daily Star (Hammond)]] | date= October 15, 2009 | access-date= October 17, 2009 | quote= Bardwell said he came to the conclusion that most black society does not readily accept offspring of such relationships, and neither does white society.... "I don't do interracial marriages because I don't want to put children in a situation they didn't bring on themselves," Bardwell said. "In my heart, I feel the children will later suffer." }}</ref> Bardwell said he had refused to perform the weddings of four couples during the 2½-year period before the news of his actions was publicized, resigned effective November 3, 2009.<ref name="bbc09">{{cite news| title=US judge in mixed-race row quits | work=[[BBC News]] | url= http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8341556.stm | date= November 4, 2009 | access-date=November 4, 2009}}</ref> Governor [[Bobby Jindal]] said that the resignation was "long overdue."<ref name="bbc09" />

Despite the parish's Republican leanings, the parish is also the home of Democratic Governor [[John Bel Edwards]]. Edwards won over 60% of the parish vote in [[2015 Louisiana gubernatorial election|2015]] and carried the parish again in [[2019 Louisiana gubernatorial election|2019]], outperforming Democratic presidential candidates by over 30 points in both elections.

===Parish Council===
Tangipahoa Parish is governed by an elected ten-member Council, each representing a geographic district and roughly equal populations. As of October 2016 its chairman was Bobby Cortez. Kristen Pecararo is the clerk of the council.<ref name="council">[https://www.tangipahoa.org/government/council/find-your-district#council-members Council page on Parish website], accessed December 1, 2019.</ref>

===President of Tangipahoa Parish===
In 1986, the former governing body of Tangipahoa Parish, the Tangipahoa Police Jury, and the voters of the Parish approved a "home rule charter" style of government. The charter provided for the election of a parish president, essentially a parish-wide mayor. Democrat Gordon A. Burgess was elected to an initial one-year term and re-elected the following year for a four-year term. Burgess was repeatedly re-elected as parish president until he retired in 2015.

In 2016, Republican businessman Robert "Robby" Miller succeeded Burgess. In April 2016, the Parish hired its first chief administrative officer, Shelby "Joe" Thomas, Jr. to handle operating functions.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.actionnews17.com/news/thomas-named-tangipahoa-parish-governments-first-cao-1555729|title=Thomas named Tangipahoa Parish Government's first CAO|work=ActionNews17|access-date=March 8, 2018|language=en-US}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|-
!|President !! Terms of Office !! Party
|-
| Gordon Burgess || October 27, 1986 – January 11, 2016 || {{Party shading/Democratic}} | [[Louisiana Democratic Party|Democratic]]
|-
| Robby Miller || January 11, 2016 – incumbent || {{Party shading/Republican}} | [[Republican Party of Louisiana|Republican]]
|}

{{PresHead|place=Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana|source=<ref>{{cite web|url=http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS|title=Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections|last=Leip|first=David|website=uselectionatlas.org|access-date=March 8, 2018}}</ref>}}
<!-- PresRow should be {{PresRow|Year|Winning party|GOP vote #|Dem vote #|3rd party vote #|State}} -->
{{PresRow|2024|Republican|37,500|16,886|718|Louisiana}}
{{PresRow|2020|Republican|37,806|18,887|968|Louisiana}}
{{PresRow|2016|Republican|33,959|16,878|1,579|Louisiana}}
{{PresRow|2012|Republican|31,590|17,722|787|Louisiana}}
{{PresRow|2008|Republican|31,434|16,438|730|Louisiana}}
{{PresRow|2004|Republican|26,181|15,345|609|Louisiana}}
{{PresRow|2000|Republican|20,421|15,843|891|Louisiana}}
{{PresRow|1996|Democratic|15,517|18,617|3,457|Louisiana}}
{{PresRow|1992|Democratic|14,128|15,194|4,923|Louisiana}}
{{PresRow|1988|Republican|16,669|13,527|492|Louisiana}}
{{PresRow|1984|Republican|19,580|12,799|200|Louisiana}}
{{PresRow|1980|Democratic|15,187|15,272|883|Louisiana}}
{{PresRow|1976|Democratic|9,242|14,432|637|Louisiana}}
{{PresRow|1972|Republican|11,607|5,227|1,623|Louisiana}}
{{PresRow|1968|American Independent|2,907|4,983|13,088|Louisiana}}
{{PresRow|1964|Republican|9,732|7,109|0|Louisiana}}
{{PresRow|1960|Democratic|3,285|6,648|4,418|Louisiana}}
{{PresRow|1956|Republican|5,788|4,831|566|Louisiana}}
{{PresRow|1952|Democratic|5,166|5,850|0|Louisiana}}
{{PresRow|1948|Dixiecrat|1,287|2,184|3,937|Louisiana}}
{{PresRow|1944|Democratic|1,572|4,419|0|Louisiana}}
{{PresRow|1940|Democratic|1,284|5,900|3|Louisiana}}
{{PresRow|1936|Democratic|1,374|4,624|2|Louisiana}}
{{PresRow|1932|Democratic|455|4,404|3|Louisiana}}
{{PresRow|1928|Democratic|1,415|2,834|0|Louisiana}}
{{PresRow|1924|Democratic|479|1,626|0|Louisiana}}
{{PresRow|1920|Democratic|440|1,501|0|Louisiana}}
{{PresRow|1916|Democratic|159|1,326|12|Louisiana}}
{{PresFoot|1912|Democratic|40|1,061|225|Louisiana}}

===Law enforcement===
The Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff's Office is headquartered in [[Hammond, Louisiana|Hammond]].<ref name="sheriff">{{cite web |title=About Us |url=https://www.tpso.org/about-us |publisher=Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff's Office |accessdate=February 2, 2022}}</ref> The Sheriff's office was excluded from a [[Drug Enforcement Administration|DEA]] task force in 2016 after the [[United States Justice Department|Justice Department]] charged two deputies with stealing money and drugs seized in raids.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Grueskin |first1=Caroline |last2=Mustian |first2=Jim |last3=Roberts III|first3=Faimon A. |title=In strip club sting, undercover Louisiana agents 'cross the line' with big 'no-no,' experts say |url=https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/communities/livingston_tangipahoa/article_df7ee444-aca0-11e8-a6fb-9f776e03c16d.html |accessdate=February 2, 2022 |work=[[The Advocate (Louisiana)]] |date=September 1, 2018}}</ref>