The Upper Valley Beacon called this race the "Hottest Race this side of the Pecos" and it is yet to be determined if it wasn't the biggest race in the whole state of Texas.

Riding the wave of presidential fervor, novice politician Joseph Moody won the coveted State Representative District # 78 office over two-time losing candidate Dee Margo, in what was once considered to be a Republican district stonghold.

In fact, when Margo was interviewed after his win over then 20-year incumbent Pat Haggerty in the primaries; Margo scoffed at the huge number of votes tallied for the two Democratic candidates: Moody and Louis Irwin. Margo insisted that District 78 was "a Republican area" and that it would stay Republican.

Obviously, Moody, while a first-time candidate, used the years of experience at his Daddy's (Judge Bill Moody) knee and the political machine that was just enough to take advantage of a presidential tsunami and a changing demographics in the Upper Valley, far north Westside as well as the far north east of the county.

[Editors Note: We'll explore the ramifications of the victory on the state legislative landscape a bit later... but, for now, thoughts by Moody on his victory.]

Joe Moody is a very thoughtful and careful speaker. Perhaps, there is politician in his blood. His thoughts about pulling a major coup in a once staunchly Republican district... "When the Early Voting results came in, we saw an advantage of 1,500 votes and I was very encouraged by those numbers. We were cautiously optimistic but when the poll results came in and things continued going our way and then finally the results were final... it was a great moment for our campaign."

We pressed him for a little more personal perspective and Moody added "It is a very humbling experience to receive the approval of the public to do good work in Austin for this community. And although it was an exciting night for us on election night it was a very humbling experience. I will work as hard as I did on the campaign and much harder when I get to Austin." [Joe the campaign is over.]

On the fact that a young man... a novice politician had defeated the poster child for the Texas Republican Party (Dee Margo)... Moody says, "It is an honor. And, I do believe that I will be the youngest serving State Representative in this session. I’m 27 and I’ll be 28 when I take the oath. There have been younger serving members of the House than I."

What did it take to withstand the kind of huge money campaign and negative ads that Margo threw at his opponent? Moody, mentions that "It was a very challenging campaign... we had 14 different forums that we appeared at... Starting back in July. We had a grass roots campaign and I was going door-to-door and making those phone calls. We did get more funding as we continued but it was always grass roots. The Obama campaign staff and volunteers helped us too."

Did Moody sling mud too? [Margo was pictured on mailers as some kind of criminal in a red tinted blotter type picture... when the issue might be education or insurance.] Moody responds, "I think what we did was to draw distinctions between us on issues and what we brought to the table. I think we brought up fair issues during the campaign and we left it up to voters to decide.

He (Margo) brought up issues that he thought were valid about me in the campaign. As far as the issues raised by Margo concerning Moody’s writing in his blog... “I didn’t think that they were relevant to the campaign... His campaign team apparently did”.

I continued to bring up issues such as health care, education, the medical school and our state parks. My blog was not the issue. The issue was and is ‘Where are we going to go from here in El Paso... and, what do we need to get done in Austin to get the best results for El Paso’."

Obviously, optimisum over the number of Democratic votes cast in the district during the presidential primary election was one factor in raising money and getting volunteers to believe that a Republican candidate could be defeated in District 78.

Moody explains his strategy, "The turnout was good. We had to bring out the base and also win over the middle and that is the challenge. And you have to balance those two populations. I am very proud of our campaign in achieving that balance. We won a significant number of precincts in the north east part of town and many of those were swing precincts."

The demographics has changed due to the huge number of new homes that have flooded the Upper Valley and northern Westside. Moody adds, “We received a lot of votes from the Anthony, Vinton, Canutillo and Borderland areas. When the polls were closing some of these areas were still open due to the lines outside to vote.”

That is one thing that people need to recognize... the northwest portion of El Paso is growing and changing and there are specific needs that pertain to that area. Infrastructure needs and health and education needs also. This area needs a lot of attention... but, in the larger sense these issues pertain to all of El Paso and the state.

Did Moody ride the Obama tsunami to victory? Moody won't give Obama that much credit, "In any presidential year you will see an uptick in voters and I think we saw that. There were a lot of ads on radio and TV... some for McCain and Obama but also for Teague (Henry Teague - Congressional candidate in Southern New Mexico) that are aired here in El Paso and the rest of Texas won’t see those ads because there isn’t that urgency.

So, I think that also plays a part in the increased voter interest. That brings people to the polls. And so when you are running a local campaign, you job is to get in front of all of those people that are coming to vote and you need to be on TV or radio... You need to be on their doorsteps or on the phone with them. And the last way to reach them is standing at the polls... and if they are coming out to vote for one candidate or an other and they don’t know that much about your race... that is an opportunity to meet them and talk to them about your race. It is absolutely crucial."

Prepared by UVB staff.

(Photos: Brax - Valley Publishing Company)

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