By Greg Giroux, CQ Staff

Democrat André Carson , a local officeholder in Indianapolis, won a special election Tuesday to fill the vacant seat in Indiana’s 7th Congressional District. He will succeed his late grandmother, Democrat Julia Carson, who died in December of lung cancer.

André Carson had 54 percent of the vote with all precincts reporting in Indiana’s 7th, which takes in most of Indiana’s capital city. State Rep. Jon Elrod, the Republican nominee, took 43 percent. Sean Shepard, a businessman, took 3 percent as the candidate of the Libertarian Party.

The result was not a surprise. Carson, a member of the elected council for the unitary government that covers Indianapolis and surrounding Marion County, was a decided favorite in a Democratic-leaning district that Julia Carson had represented for more than a decade.

André Carson, who is 33 years old, vowed to continue the legacy of his late forebear, an advocate for the poor and the disadvantaged during her long public service career in which she was acknowledged as one of Indiana’s African-American political pioneers.

Yet the younger Carson also followed his grandmother’s track record in achieving comfortable but less-than-overwhelming victory margins in a district that, despite its Democratic leanings, is not quite a liberal hotbed. His showing was comparable to the 54 percent vote shares that Julia Carson received in each of her final two re-election campaigns, in 2004 and 2006. By comparison, Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry , the Democratic presidential nominee in 2004, took 58 percent of the district vote against President Bush.

Carson’s clear-cut win deprived Republican officials of any opportunity to declare even a moral victory in the special election contest. That was something GOP officials wanted after the 30-seat loss in fall 2006 that cost the party its House majority — and the fresh setback endured last Saturday in Illinois’ 14th District, where Democrat Bill Foster won a special election to fill the vacancy created last year when Republican J. Dennis Hastert, the former Speaker, resigned from the House.

GOP nominee Elrod, who is just 30 years old, exhibited strong campaign skills in 2006 when he unseated a Democratic incumbent to win election to the state House. But he neither amassed the campaign funds nor had the time needed to organize a full-fledged congressional campaign that would enable him to overcome the 7th District’s Democratic tilt. For more than three decades, the Indianapolis-based congressional district has been in Democratic hands.

Carson raised more than five times as much money than Elrod, and also benefitted from an independent spending effort by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the cash-rich political arm of House Democratic majority.

“Congratulations to André Carson on his victory tonight. He is a tireless leader for the children and working families of Indianapolis,” DCCC Chairman Chris Van Hollen of Maryland said in a statement.

Republicans, nonetheless, found some positive in the Indiana 7 outcome. They praised Elrod for waging a valiant effort and said he could be a competitive candidate in the regular November election, when he is expected to again be the Republican nominee.

Indiana Republican Rep. Dan Burton , whose neighboring 5th District includes part of Indianapolis, said on the radio station WIBC Tuesday night — before the race was called in Carson’s favor — that Elrod “ran one heck of a campaign.” Burton said that he thought that “the Republican Party will look very, very closely at this race from a national perspective, because we need to pick up some seats.”

Carson, meanwhile, will not have much time to linger on his victory lap. He must face voters once again in just eight weeks, this time in the May 6 Democratic primary that will determine the candidates who will run in the November election.

That primary will contain echoes of the fight over the Democratic nomination for Tuesday’s special election. That nomination was decided by a meeting of district party officials rather than in a primary, and two of Carson’s opponents — state Reps. David Orentlicher and Carolene Mays — came away unreconciled. The filing deadline for the regularly scheduled May primary was on Feb. 22, and both Orentlicher and Mays filed to challenge Carson for the full-term nomination, as did Woodrow A. Myers Jr., a former health commissioner for the state of Indiana and later in New York City.

Orentlicher said on WIBC early Tuesday evening that he would emphasize changes to health care policy. A law professor and medical doctor who teaches constitutional law and bioethics, Orentlicher said he would promote a “different kind of moral leadership in this country.”

Elrod is expected to easily defeat two little-known opponents in the Republican primary.

Like his grandmother, Carson will overwhelmingly side with his party on votes after his swearing-in, which is expected to occur later this week. Carson supports withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq and efforts to protect Social Security benefits. He’ll line up regularly with the positions of labor unions, many of which donated to Carson’s campaign through their political action committees.

Carson’s entry into Congress also is notable for some demographics. He will become the second-youngest member of the U.S. House, one year older than North Carolina Republican Rep. Patrick T. McHenry . Carson also becomes the second Muslim ever elected to Congress, joining Minnesota Democrat Keith Ellison , who is serving his first term; both are African-Americans who underwent religious conversions as adults.

Once Carson is sworn in, the U.S. House will have 233 Democrats, 198 Republicans and four vacancies. The Republicans are the defending party in three of the four vacant districts, so the Democrats effectively control 234 House seats — or 16 more than the 218 needed to have a majority in the 435-member House.