Holding firmly to our credo of civility and magnanimity in politics and public affairs, we congratulate Texas Senate candidate Brian Birdwell, a retired Army officer from Granbury who in a special election Tuesday broke Waco’s longtime grip on the seat. We didn’t believe Birdwell was the better candidate in this special runoff election, but we bow to the results and look forward to getting to know him better.

Birdwell has already vowed the same, insisting that he plans on representing the entire, 10-county Senate district. He has made it clear that this principle includes representing Waco and that he plans on spending coming weeks and months talking with constituents in McLennan County, which came out strongly for runoff opponent David Sibley.

We welcome honest, civil and productive discourse. It’s important Wacoans learn where Birdwell comes from, politically and otherwise. It’s just as important Birdwell knows where we come from.

No doubt Republican strategists statewide will be picking through election data over the next several days, trying to determine what worked for Birdwell and what worked against Sibley, a former mayor of Waco and former state senator whose subsequent career as a lobbyist proved an albatross in an environment that no longer treasures political experience or incumbency.

Birdwell’s own problems included serious questions about his legal eligibility as a candidate. However, this year voters seem less interested in legal niceties, more interested in change — particularly dynamic, conservative change.

To that end, Birdwell certainly benefited. He was backed by a coalition of tea party activists and Christian conservatives weary of what they regard as lip service by the Republican establishment and eager for a real voice at all levels of government. They’re the very sorts of determined, passionate Americans who will swim an icy river in a blizzard to vote. To their credit, little deters them.

We also commend Kip Averitt of Waco, not only for his years of service as our state representative and state senator but for finally scuttling any talk of remaining on the ballot in November after bowing out earlier because of illness. We know he must be disappointed by the election results — Sibley was his mentor — but we believe Averitt is correct in deciding to leave this seat. The voters have been acting on his stated intentions to do so. To retain the seat now, after an incredibly convoluted electoral process, would only further disillusion a fiercely polarized electorate quite ready to believe the worst about our public servants.

Finally, we thank David Sibley for offering himself as a strong voice for Central Texas. We know his decision to enter this race was undertaken on behalf of his neighbors. In defeat, he very generously praised the wisdom of the voters who, after all, put him into office nearly two decades ago. We look forward to his wisdom as our neighbor.