Chabert wins District 20 special election

Norby Chabert (D-Chauvin) carried on the family legacy by winning Saturday’s state Senate District 20 runoff election by a landslide over republican Brent Callais (R-Cut Off).

He is the third member of his family to hold the seat after his late father Leonard and older brother Marty.

The unofficial results show Chabert garnered 9,576 votes or 54.3 percent, while Callais collected 8,050 votes, 45.7 percent.

“It feels absolutely phenomenal,” said Chabert, 33, at his celebration party. “This victory was a result of a lot of hard work and determination by my staff and supporters. I am humbled to be the person that District 20 has selected to send to Baton Rouge to represent them.”

Repeated calls to Callais went unreturned as of press time.

Chabert will serve the remaining two years of Reggie Dupre’s term. Dupre resigned July 1 to become Terrebonne Conservation and Levee District director.

Chabert said his top priorities are to work with the local legislative delegation to achieve the goals they have set in place – hurricane and levee protection, coastal erosion and funding Morganza-to-the-Gulf.

“We’re going to try as a group to make our homes safer and better,” he said.

Just over one-fourth of eligible voters in the district, southern Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes, cast ballots.

Dupre noted Chabert did a better job getting his base out to the polls than Callais.

“Norby was able to mobilize his base vote which is basically the bayou communities. And the African-American precincts had a very high turnout,” Dupre said. “He was able to hold his own in other precincts.”

Callais got 45 and 46 percent of the vote in Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes, respectively. However, he lost all 16 precincts in Lafourche’s Ward 10, his home turf.

Chabert was effective with his “70/70” campaign commercial, referring to Chauvin getting 70 percent of his hometown vote in the Aug. 1 primary election, while 70 percent of the Cut Off vote went against Callais.

“I think it speaks to the fact that the people who know you best should elect you,” Chabert said.

Another factor in deciding the race was likely the negative campaigning injected as the election neared.

Callais sent direct mail flyers claiming Chabert supported President Barack Obama’s health care reform proposals and one mentioning Chabert’s 2004 DWI arrest. The mailers were sent in the final days of the runoff.

“I think the voters of this district spoke against negative campaigning,” Chabert said. “They don’t want it. If we keep attacking people personally, we won’t get good people to run. It was an unfortunate time in my life. I never tried to hide it. It’s a mistake. I’ll never make it again.”

Dupre concurred noting, “Negative campaigning works in large metropolitan areas. It’s counterproductive in the rural areas.”

“I think it started to turn people off about a week ago,” he added.

Although Gov. Bobby Jindal is very popular among District 20 voters, his endorsement of Callais last week did not give him an advantage.

It’s the second time that a governor’s endorsement has failed to sway voters of District 20 to their candidate, according to Dupre.

“About 10 years ago, Gov. Mike Foster endorsed Chris Bollinger against Mike Robichaux, and Bollinger lost that race,” Dupre explained. “In this district, endorsements from the governor just don’t work.”

State Senate-elect Norby Chabert plays the washboard alongside Southern Boyz lead singer Neal Foret at his victory party Saturday night. * Photo by KEYON K. JEFF