Editing Alexandria, Louisiana (section)

== Government and politics ==
=== Local government ===

==== History ====

Following the Civil War, all public records in Alexandria had been destroyed. On September 29, 1868, the city was granted a new charter with a government consisting of a Mayor, Treasurer, and Justice of the Peace. Nine aldermen represented the four wards of the city – two from each ward and one elected at-large.

In 1912, the [[Lawrason Act]] established Alexandria municipal government in a strong mayor format, where the mayor was also the Commissioner of Public Health and Safety (Police, Fire, Sanitation). There were separate Commissioners of Streets and Parks and Finance and Utilities, elected citywide. Those positions were discontinued in 1977.

==== Today ====
Alexandria has a mayoral-council system of government. The Mayor serves as the executive branch of the local government.

The City Council serves as the legislative branch. The five districts of the city are represented on the council; in addition there are two council members elected to serve as at-large representatives of the city.

The Alexandria Court has a limited jurisdiction, consisting of the citizens of Wards 1, 2 and 8 in [[Rapides Parish]]. Within those boundaries the court has the power to hear and decide both criminal and civil cases, rule in civil cases and hand down judgment for punishment in criminal cases.

=== United States Congressional district ===
From 1913 to 1993, Alexandria served as the seat of [[Louisiana's 8th congressional district|Louisiana's Eighth Congressional district]]. A [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] seat, it was held by the [[Huey P. Long|Long family]] for nearly half of its existence, from 1953 to 1987, broken only by the two terms of [[Harold B. McSween]] and three terms of [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] [[Clyde Holloway]] of [[Forest Hill, Louisiana|Forest Hill]]. The seat was removed after the 1990 census indicated Louisiana no longer had the population to support it. The district was split among the [[Louisiana's 4th congressional district|Fourth]], [[Louisiana's 5th congressional district|Fifth]] and [[Louisiana's 6th congressional district|Sixth Congressional districts]]. Alexandria is now in the Fifth district and was represented from 2003 to 2013 by [[Rodney Alexander]], a Democrat-turned-Republican. From November 2013 to January 2015 the representative is [[Vance McAllister]] of [[Ouachita Parish, Louisiana|Ouachita Parish]]. Since March 2021, the Fifth has been represented by [[Julia Letlow]] of [[Start, Louisiana|Start]] in [[Richland Parish, Louisiana|Richland Parish]].