George Washington Sevier Sr. (1858–1925) was elected as a member of the Madison Parish Police Jury. He served as the parish tax assessor from 1891 to 1916. Except for the years 1887–90, there has been at least one member of the Sevier family in public office for the 122 years preceding 2005. The family's power was maintained primarily in the decades-long period when Democratic Party whites dominated voting, and Louisiana was virtually a one-party state. From its passage of a new constitution in 1898, the state legislature worked to disenfranchise African Americans, who were then mostly members of the Republican Party. They were systematically disenfranchised and nearly excluded from the political system until after passage of civil rights legislation in the mid-20th century.
