HE is expecting his first child in weeks but Nick Champion had a second reason to celebrate last night as he was returned as a federal Labor MP.
Mr Champion, 44, has held the seat of Wakefield for almost a decade, representing swathes of the struggling northern suburbs, Gawler, Clare Valley and parts of the state's Mid-North. 
Amid local anxiety about the pending departure of Holden next year - a major electorate issue - Mr Champion last night secured a fourth term, with a dramatic 7.1 per cent boost in his primary vote.
With more than two-thirds of the ballot counted last night, he had secured more than 60.5 of the two-party preferred vote. The previous margin was 3.4 per cent. He held off a push from popular local Liberal candidate, small business owner Kathleen Bourne, also 44.
Mr Champion won in 2007 from the Liberal's David Fawcett, now a senator, and turned it into a safe Labor seat before his margin was dramatically cut at the last election.
The Greenock resident recruited his heavily pregnant wife, Fiona, 35, to hand out "how to vote" cards in the Barossa Valley yesterday. Later this month they are expecting their first child, a daughter, who will be named Louise.
Mr Champion, who celebrated at the Salisbury RSL club, last night admitted the pending birth had provided extra stress.
"We have been fortunate but it has been a lot of juggle," he said. "You just hope everything will be all right but I am glad the election is over.
"Painting the nursery was a good thing to do as it took my mind off politics." As election day got closer, people began telling him stories about babies arriving early.
He joked: "If we have a second child, it will be in a non-election year." He said voters wanted whoever formed government to focus on the state's economic challenges.
WAKEFIELD CHAMPION (ALP) BOURNE (LIB) INWOOD (NXT)LABOR HOLD