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It might have been the biggest upset this election season for the Rio Grande Valley.

The Texas Secretary of State reported that Republican challenger Blake Farenthold defeated current Congressman Solomon Ortiz by 799 votes to win the District 27 Congressional seat.

Both men began campaigning early on Election Day morning.

Congressman Ortiz was up in Nueces county, while Farenthold started his day in Brownsville.

Ortiz ended his night in Brownsville while Farenthold held a victory celebration in Corpus Christi.

It was a close race, but in the end Farenthold pulled ahead to secure 48 percent or 50,964 votes compared to Ortiz’s 47 percent or 50,155 ballots.

The third candidate, Libertarian Ed Mishou, garnered five percent of the votes or about 5317 ballots.

Following the news, Farenthold told Action 4 News in a phone interview that Valley residents should expect to see him around frequently, working for them.

“The number one issue is the economy and jobs and we’ve got to get South Texas back to work,” Farenthold said. “You’ve got to get businesses coming back to the U.S., back to the Rio Grande Valley.”

In the meantime, back in his camp, Solomon Ortiz said each voter had a choice, and that he is happy regardless of the outcome.

“We did everything we could,” he admitted. “We ran a strong campaign. The problem was that there was a lot of anger out there.

Now, after 27 years in Congress, someone else is poised to take over his seat.

The votes, however, still need to be canvassed and it is unknown whether Solomon Ortiz will ask for a recount.