Dee Margo responded to rumors about another run for state representative by telling NPT: “I’ve been asked to consider running again but I haven’t made up my mind.”

Margo, a resident of state Rep. Joe Moody’s District 78, said that “lots of the voters, not any one individual,” had expressed disappointment in his
2008 loss and that he was “flattered to be asked” about running again.

Late last week, several sources in Austin had tipped off NPT about Margo considering a third run for public office. Over the weekend, Margo wrote
an opinion piece for the El Paso Times criticizing Judge Manuel Barraza and straight ticket voting.

“He (Barraza) was elected due in a large part to a tidal wave of straight-ticket voting — along with every other Democrat in El Paso County. I should know. I appeared on that same ballot in a race for state
representative and was 'consumed' by that tidal wave as well,” Margo said.

Margo lost to Moody last November by 3,258 votes. The state race was one of the most important in Texas, with its consequences reaching well beyond El
Paso. [link]

The election defeat prompted Margo’s son, Don, to publicly decry “straight ticket voter ignorance” in El Paso. [link]

Dee Margo told NPT that one reason he was considering running again was that he believed the 2008 result to be an “aberration.”

“Historically District 78 has never had the same amount of straight ticket voting that any of the other districts in El Paso have had. It (the 2008 election) was an anomaly. I think I got caught up in an Obama Tsunami,” Margo said.

Margo said he had solicited no donations for a potential third run for office (he ran against state Sen. Eliot Shapleigh in 2006). However, he does still has a balance of $5,420.73 in his campaign account and has has received two donations (of $40 and $1,350) since the November election. [link] His campaign website and campaign phone number are currently dormant.

“We’ll maintain our website address and things like that but there is no active engagement with them at all,” Margo said. “If I decide to run we would reactivate everything. But I'm not going make any decision until fall of this year.”

Margo said he liked the way his friend House Speaker Joe Straus, R-Alamo Heights, was running the Texas House and that he was looking on with
interest as the session unfolded.

“I’m not picking up the phone and calling people about anything except maybe certain bills that may be near and dear to El Paso,” Margo said. Particularly he believes the delegation should push hard for funding for the third building at the El Paso campus of the Texas Tech Medical School.

“If we can't get it in the budget then by golly they (El Paso state reps) ought to figure out a way to get it through TRBs,” said Margo referring to the possibility of the building being funded by Tuition Revenue Bonds. “I thought our delegation should have got together and made that the number one priority.”

Margo added that he thought it good for El Paso that state Rep. Joe Pickett was Transportation Chair and that state Rep. Norma Chavez was on Appropriations. He also thought state Rep. Marisa Marquez had a lot of “potential.”

But what about Moody?

“I haven’t heard anything, which is good and bad I guess,” Margo said.

When asked about the possibility of Margo running again, Moody said, “I will engage in a campaign when the time comes. Right now my focus remains on working for the people of El Paso and Texas."

"It is an honor to represent District 78...We are working hard to expand access to health care, improve our public schools, and create jobs in these tough economic times.”