This Saturday, Democrats Norbert “Norby” Chabert and Ledricka Johnson Thierry successfully defended the vacant 20th Senate and 40th House districts in closely-fought special election runoffs. The heavily-Democratic HD-40 was never seriously in doubt for the party, but the overwhelmingly-conservative SD-20 supported John McCain by a 72%-28% margin in November and featured a well-financed Republican campaign by Brent Callais of Cutoff, LA.

Chabert won the contest by a convincing 54.3% to 45.7%, for a total margin of 1526 votes in the Terrebonne- and Lafourche-based 20th District:

In addition to the district’s conservative leanings, Callais had the advantage of a high-profile campaign and fundraising visit from Republican Governor Bobby Jindal (which reportedly netted nearly $100,000) and heavy spending by the Louisiana Republican Party. Callais and the Republicans blanketed the district with mailers accusing Chabert of supporting President Obama’s healthcare initiative, but Chabert wisely focused his campaign on local issues like the South Louisiana shrimping industry, coastal levee protection, and the future of public hospitals in Houma, LA.

Just like in last week’s special election in Kentucky, the national attacks clearly fell flat, and the Democrat’s mastery of local issues won the race.