So as most of you readers know, I try to attend as many political events as I can during the season and I thought it was time to write about a development I've had my eye on for a couple of months now.

I've written about factionalism in this town and how bad it is for the community of El Paso. Showing just how little (no pun intended) my good friend and colleague at KHRO 1150 AM, Hector Montes, knows about the local political scene, he thinks factions don't exist. Actually he knows full well they do, but maybe he's trying to come across as a peace maker between factions.

I wrote about a greeting I noticed between Congressman Reyes and State Representative Norma Chavez. Reyes and Chavez haven't exactly been political BFF's in the past. If you recall, the last time Rep Chavez had a challenger it was Marty Reyes, sister-in-law to the Congressman.

During the town-hall phenomenon over the summer, Representative Chavez surprised some folks and very publicly went to bat for the Congressman who was taking hits for not having a town hall on health care. At first I thought it was because Chavez was the biggest surrogate for the President during the campaign season. I figured she realized that she had made a big bet on the President and she was going to stand by her man, so to speak.

But when the two greeted each other, the Congressman and Chavez, at the forum held at Bowie, there was a genuine hug between the two.

So let's examine the dynamic of the relationship between the Congressman and Senator Eliot Shapleigh. They have had some rocky times of their own in the past, including a pretty public spat during Shapleigh's run against Dee Margo. Shapleigh was pissed because the Congressman didn't endorse him over Margo.

During the health care town hall at Bowie, there were several elected officials in attendance in addition to Rep Chavez including State Rep Marquez and County Commissioner Veronica Escobar. But who wasn't there? State Senator Eliot Shapleigh.

He did however hold a town hall of his own on the issue, but the turnout was pretty low. Not sure how the Congressman took it, but I bet it was bitter sweet. Bitter because Shapleigh held his own town hall, sweet because it was a low turnout.

During my first week of radio I talked about an invitation to the Congressman's birthday shindig coming up and read some of the names that were on the host committee. Surprisingly Chavez's name appears on the host committee, along with most of Team Shapleigh, with the glaring exception of Senator Shapleigh himself.

That leads me to the latest and most interesting development. While I was at the election training held by the Democratic Party this week (the Senator had a candidate school of his own a few weeks ago which forced the local Party to reschedule theirs) I saw an invitation to Representative Chavez's fundraiser on a table. I make it a habit to collect campaign literature whenever possible so I picked it up and read through it.

Guess who has top billing on the invitation?

Congressman Reyes.

The invitation gives no indication what office Chavez will be pursuing but it interesting to note that the event will be on November 12th, which is BEFORE the date that the veteran legislator has indicated she will make her final decision as to what office she will be running for.

Enclosed in the invitation is a slip with contribution information for reporting purposes. Maybe it’s a template used for all her campaigns, but there is a line that says, “Yes, I will be there to support your re-election. Enclosed is my contribution.”

The support of the Congressman behind her leaves open the door for a run at State Senate. This development will likely leave County Attorney Jose Rodriguez guessing until the Thanksgiving Holiday when Chavez has indicated she will make her announcement.

I'm still thinking she won't run because who in their right minds makes a decision to run for Senate in El Paso and announces it over the Thanksgiving holiday? That would be a huge momentum killer, so I'm thinking it will be an announcement for re-election.

Keep watching this race because in the words of the great Yogi Berra, “It ain't over til it's over.”

Jaime Abeytia is a Newspaper Tree contributor and the host of “Lionstar Live” that airs on weekdays from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. on KHRO 1150 AM.