Update 10 p.m.: With nearly all precincts counted, Motley left a voice mail concession for Anderson.
“I wished him luck and asked him to represent the district well,” she said.
Anderson left her a voice mail back, Motley said. “He said there was a band playing and he couldn’t hear the phone,” but asked her to call back if she needed anything.
About a week ago, after I reported on the many problems with Anderson’s accusations against Motley, his campaign strategist told me that I had “lost access to a Dallas County soon-to-be-elected official.” Anderson, who campaigned on his accessibility to the public, hasn’t responded to me since. I’ll update if he does.
Update 9 p.m.: After a long delay, Election Day results are finally chugging in. And with nearly half the precincts counted, Anderson is still up 15 points. It’s hard to see any way for Motley to make up a 2,500 vote deficit at this hour. I’ve put calls in to the candidates.
“I’m not yet ready to say its game over. We certainly understand he’s got a big lead,” Motley told me as she watched the results roll in. She said she planned to speak to her opponent later tonight.
Asked to look back on her first race for office, and on Anderson’s attacks on her, Motley said: “We don’t have any regrets about the way we ran this race. I’m not sure Rodney Anderson can say the same thing.”
Update 7 p.m.:
Show’s over for Motley unless Election Day turnout is massive, and massively different from the early vote totals that just arrived. Those show Anderson up by 15 points.
Original post:
Rodney Anderson and Susan Motley
The District 105 race has been one of the weirdest this cycle, ever since Republican Rodney Anderson launched a botched attack on Susan Motley that ultimately prompted the state GOP to apologize to her.
But will any of the mayhem matter in the first open race since the district was created? Did Anderson’s allegations that Motley was breaking the law harm the Democrat before they collapsed? Or might the attacks backfire on Anderson after his party retreated from them and he blamed a botched fax for the whole mess?
Chances are, we’ll never know. It’s not like there are any public polls of the race. But the results should start trickling in soon, and we’ll at least know which of the two candidates is the next House rep for the Irving-Grand Prairie area.