Debbie Poochigian, left, says her maturity helped her defeat Nathan Magsig

Earlier tonight, The Bee's county reporter, Kerri Ginis, was unable to reach Debbie Poochigian, who was locked up in a nasty race with Nathan Magsig for the District 5 seat being vacated by Bob Waterston.

Poochigian -- who was leading Magsig by 8 percentage points with 92% of precincts reporting at about 10:45 p.m -- finally was reached on a cell phone at her party at Pardini's – although the cell phone wasn’t her own.

“It’s great,” Poochigian said. “We just really tried to put out the issues. As I was walking door to door talking to voters, they wanted someone with common sense, someone with maturity, who wasn’t beholden to anyone.”

Meanwhile, Magsig was ready to concede. He said he’s moving on and will continue his work on the Clovis City Council.

Magsig said he left a congratulatory voicemail on Poochigian’s cell phone.

Which Poochigian will hear when she returns home and checks her cell phone.