Rematch? No and maybe

Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso, won't face another challenge from wealthy El Paso businessman Dee Margo in 2010, but freshman Rep. Joe Moody might.

Margo said Friday he is still mulling another run for the Texas House district 78 seat that was once occupied by Republican Pat Haggerty.

"I haven't made my decision," said Margo, president and CEO of JDW Insurance in El Paso.

Margo ran against Shapleigh in 2006 and was handily defeated. Democratic straight-ticket voting in El Paso County, he said, is still too much for a Republican to overcome to win the Senate seat.

"I see probably no point," he said.

The House seat, based in affluent West El Paso, however, could be a different story. In 2008, Margo beat Haggerty in a rough-and-tumble Republican primary race for the district 78 spot. He lost the November general election to Democratic Rep. Moody, a young lawyer and son of well-known El Paso District Judge Bill Moody.

The district, though, has long elected Republicans — Haggerty was in office nearly two decades — and in 2010 President Barack Obama won't be on the ballot to drive up the Democratic vote.

Margo said he's still fielding phone calls and hasn't made up his mind about another run for the Legislature.
"I just don't know at this time," he said.

bgrissom@texastribune.org