COVINGTON, La. — The yard signs have been out for a while, but it became official Tuesday. The battle for St. Tammany Parish President will put incumbent Mike Cooper against Slidell Mayor Greg Cromer.
“We’ve got some more doors to knock on, we’ve got more signs that are going up,” said Cromer.
Cromer says he decided to run about a year ago when supporters started asking him to.
“The timing is right,” said Cromer. “We just don’t feel comfortable with the direction that the parish is going in right now, so we want to change that trajectory as best we can.
That trajectory is one Cooper is proud of. “Every day is a campaign,” said Cooper. “We’re going to run it to win it.”
Cooper says his administration has been focused on addressing things like infrastructure, outpaced by growth and development.
“The citizens see the activities that we’re doing, the infrastructure, the roads, bridges, drainage being addressed, and they know that we’re working each and every day to serve them,” said Cooper.
Both men, running as Republicans, have years of government experience, dealing with things like hurricanes, floods, and a pandemic. Before he became Slidell’s mayor in 2018, Cromer was a state representative and Slidell city councilman.
“Everything I’ve done leading up to this has prepared me for this,” said Cromer.
Cooper spent nine years as Mayor of Covington before taking over as parish president in January 2020. His election ousted the two-term incumbent.
“The exposure I get from doing my job on a daily basis is what I think what shows the people of St. Tammany that I’m doing my job and have their interests as number one priority,” said Cooper.
Cromer knows going up against an incumbent with name recognition isn’t easy and says a top priority is getting parish leaders and agencies to all work together.
“We’re going to be in the community visiting people and getting a sense of what our citizens want,” said Cromer. “A lot of people ask me, ‘What’s the first thing yu need to tackle,’ and my first response is, ‘What do you think it is?’”
Both Northshore natives will have to be the face of their campaigns while also doing the job they were elected to do.
“The next two months is going to be a pretty rigorous campaign, but it’s just a balance,” said Cooper.
That balance that will soon be weighed by the 270,000 people who call St. Tammany home. As of Tuesday afternoon, no other candidates had qualified to run for parish president.