Robert T. Tobin - Political Career

Political Career

A Democrat, Tobin was elected in 1978 to the Minden City Council from the predominantly black District A. He defeated J. D. Hampton (born c. 1935), 519 (67 percent) to 255 (33 percent). In 1966, Hampton became the first black official to run for the office of Minden mayor when he unsuccessfully challenged Frank T. Norman in the party primary. Hampton was also the complainant in the Webster Parish school desegregation case promoted by his United Christian Freedom Movement. Tobin was reelected to city council without opposition in 1982 and 1986. In February 1989, the council appointed him, at the age of 78, as mayor to succeed Democrat Noel "Gene" Byars, who was recalled amid controversy over charging the municipality for personal expenses.

In the special election for mayor held later in 1989, Tobin ran first with 1,545 votes. Republican Paul A. Brown, a relative newcomer to Minden, trailed slightly with 1,509 ballots while future mayor Bill Robertson and Peggy J. Staples (1933–2009), the first woman ever to have served on the Minden City Council, followed with 1,028 and 452 ballots, respectively. In the runoff campaign, Brown defeated Tobin, but held the post for only a year, as Robertson rebounded in 1990 to claim the mayor's office for a full term and has served as mayor ever since, having been reelected to a fifth four-year term in 2006.