By Thomas Warren III, Editor-in-Chief

One of the most famous sports calls of all time came courtesy of Howard Cosell in 1973 during the Joe Frazier and George Foreman title fight. With Foreman brutalizing Frazier, and scoring knockdowns, the legendary broadcaster Cosell exclaimed “Down goes Frazier” multiple times. At that point in his career, Frazier had been undefeated and came into the fight as the undisputed unified heavyweight champion of the world. To see the heavyweight champion hit the mat before being stopped in the second round was something remarkable for sports fans all over the world.

While arguably not as exciting as sports, the world of elections and politics is still closely watched with each Election Day. And on July 14, I think it’s fair to say calling out “down goes Amarillo Matters” would not have been out of the question.

Amarillo Matters PAC, the campaign arm of the local political establishment, had a rough night on July 14. Joining the mob of establishment groups trashing Ronny Jackson’s military service in the heated race for U.S. House District 13, this special interest group went all in for Josh Winegarner and ended up with their first loss for an endorsed candidate in the PAC’s history.

Just like in Frazier vs. Foreman, somebody’s “0” had to go, and on July 14, it wasn’t Ronny Jackson, but Amarillo Matters that took the big loss.

Seeing Jackson trounce the Amarillo Matters endorsed candidate Josh Winegarner in Potter and Randall Counties was an interesting thing to see. For a long time, Randall County has served as the firewall for Amarillo Matters candidates, but on Tuesday, the firewall broke. While it could be easy to give Jackson all of the credit, Amarillo Matters’ first loss did not come just at the hands of Jackson, but also at the hands of the grassroots, which mobilized, supported, and got the vote out for Jackson.

I think it is safe to say, when the vote totals started rolling in on Tuesday night, the Amarillo establishment didn’t know what hit them. The grassroots kicked down the door on the party and spoiled another coronation for a hand-picked Amarillo Matters candidate who had all the right endorsements, such as Sen. Kel Seliger, Rep. Ken King, and U.S. Rep. Mac Thornberry, but did not have the honesty or substance voters in Texas’ 13th Congressional District had been looking for in this election cycle.

With the victory by Jackson, my hope is this will encourage the grassroots to get mobilized and turn out to push back against the Amarillo Matters machine in future election cycles. We already have a municipal election coming up in 2021, and you know Amarillo Matters darn sure wants to make a statement there. Let’s hope the grassroots will be there once again to rain on the establishment parade.

So, now that Jackson moves on to the November election, I think it is worth congratulating both Mr. Jackson and the Democratic nominee, Gus Trujillo, for their victories on Tuesday night. However, I also think it is worth congratulating the voters of Amarillo for finally turning back the Amarillo Matters tide and showing that the establishment’s grip on Amarillo is not what the old guard’s power brokers would have us believe.

Amarillo voters, this win belongs to you. You defeated Amarillo Matters resoundingly. Congratulations, well done, and don’t get complacent. We still have many more battles to be waged at the ballot box.