Callais, Chabert to face off in Senate runoff Aug. 29

Voter turnout below the Intracoastal Waterway was crucial to propelling Norby Chabert and Brent Callais into an Aug. 29 runoff over state Rep. Damon Baldone (D-Houma) in a special election Saturday to fill former state Sen. Reggie Dupre’s District 20 seat, the candidates said.

Callais was first with 5,055 votes (38 percent), followed by Chabert with 4,359 (33 percent). Baldone picked up 3,957 votes.

Chabert, from Chauvin, is running for public office for the first time. Callais, a former Lafourche Parish councilman, is from Cut Off.

“I think the people in south Terrebonne and Lafourche were affected by the storms. They wanted change. No disrespect to Damon,” Chabert said.

“Voter turnout was key,” Callais said. “I knew it would be. It definitely played a factor.”

Baldone, who has been a state representative since 2001, said failing to place in the runoff was a surprise.

“A lot of people did not get out to vote. We’d identified 4,000 voters. We tried to call them,” he said. “That’s what happens in special elections, low turnout.”

“I think people down the bayou voting as strongly (as occurred) was an advantage to my opponents because it’s where they’re from,” Baldone said.

Chabert, 33, pointed to several factors placing him in the runoff.

“They looked at the three candidates,” he said. “In the lower areas of Lafourche and Terrebonne, they saw water over the levees since (Hurricane) Juan. They looked at the field.”

“Having to raise their houses, the high cost of insurance, we cleaned up south of the Intracoastal,” he added. “I’m dealing with the same issues they deal with. That’s where Baldone lost the race.”

Callais, 29, said he made the runoff partly by pounding the pavement. “It was a hard campaign,” the Republican candidate said. “I shook hands, met people. The hard work paid off.”

“We targeted several households in the primary, voters with our core beliefs,” he said. “We made sure they were educated.”

Chabert, a Democrat, said the Republican Party bombarded him with aggressive advertising late in the campaign, including misrepresenting his position on income taxes. Chabert asserted he favors lowering taxes.

“It was a big deal in the campaign,” he said. “They were Republican hit pieces against Damon and me.”

Callais said since the literature was distributed by the Republican Party, he would have no comment.

“If my campaign had put it out, I would comment,” he said.

For the runoff election, Callais will not veer from what has worked so far.

“We will continue with the strategy we started,” he said. “We will continue with our game plan. We will continue to move forward.”

Chabert said he will try a different approach in the runoff.

“Callais got aggressive with party at the end of the race,” he said. “Callais separated himself from Baldone and myself. I’m going to show the drastic contrast between Callais and me.”

Baldone, who remains a state representative, said he may run for the state Senate seat again in two years. Dupre, who would have been term-limited in 2011, resigned to become director of the Terrebonne Levee District.

“There may be a higher voter turnout. It will be a gubernatorial election,” Baldone said. “I may do better.”