The St. Petersburg Times took notice of Kevin Beckner’s defeat of Hillsborough County Commissioner Brian Blair, noting that Beckner is only the second person this decade to defeat an incumbent.

According to the paper, Beckner started his campaign 22 months ago and ran an intense grassroots campaign, amassing a team of 400 volunteers.

The paper writes:

“I think Beckner outworked him,” said former Tampa City Council member Bob Buckhorn, a community affairs consultant and Democrat who lost to Blair four years ago.

Beckner, 37, a financial planner, combined shoe leather with direct mail that hit soft and hard, sounding simple, repetitive themes: Beckner would work across aisles to address quality-of-life issues; Blair had worked on behalf of developers and his own self-interests.

Both the walking and mail targeted voters Beckner and campaign manager Mitch Kates thought would be receptive.

“A lot of science went into it, and we focused like a laser beam on those areas that we needed to win,” Beckner said.

Throw in some new-era Internet advertising on Facebook and friends who left no story uncommented upon in online news accounts of the race. Add an organized effort to court absentee ballots, normally a Republican strength.

The result was a 10-point victory all the more remarkable since Beckner is believed to be the first openly gay candidate to win elected office in Hillsborough County.

“At the end of the day, I think Beckner ran a great race,” said east county businessman and activist Sam Rashid, one of several advisers to Blair.