Jimmy Panetta becomes the Central Coast's next congressman.

On this historic morning Jimmy Panetta got up and paired a coffee with a Fiber 1 peanut butter breakfast bar.

On a day that took him and his campaign manager Plasha Will across the vast district Rep. Sam Farr represented for 22-plus years, a land that reaches from Santa Cruz to Watsonville to Big Sur, he carried a good luck totem from a Monterey Trail Athletic League wrestling title he earned at Carmel High.

“In my pocket I have a medal,” Panetta said. “It’s a symbol of all the hard work it takes to get something you want."

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At 8pm, a cheerful crowd shares laughs and lemon meringue pies in jars at congressional candidate Casey Lucius’ Point Pinos Grill election night party.

Lucius, wearing a navy blue dress and a pearl necklace, paces between taking photos with supporters in front of a backdrop with her campaign logo and talking to TV anchors.

Betsy Lucius, the candidate's mother, sits at a table away from the crowd.

“We have our positive hats on today,” she says. “Regardless of the results, Casey’s already a winner. I’m so proud.”

The majority of the party’s people hover around an area with a fully decked hors d'oeuvres table and a mounted television playing live election results. People drink wine and chat but can’t keep their eyes off the red states appearing on the map.

The TV is turned off abruptly so Lucius can speak, and all talk of Clinton’s scandals or Trump’s racist rhetoric is put away for a later time.

“Early on I was told the Panettas couldn’t be challenged,” Lucius says. “Yet here I am, and I wouldn't have gotten here without all of you.”

Though Jimmy Panetta is announced the winner of the race to represent District 20 not long after, it’s clear the Lucius camp celebrates the journey of the race rather than the gold medal at the end.

In a tweet at 11pm, Lucius wrote: “Congrats @JimmyPanetta! Great race in a great district. Thank you all for a wonderful experience. I wouldn't trade it.”

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Around 4pm Panetta professed that this job he sought—one his father held but few would be crazy enough to seek—scared him most because it demanded the ability to assimilate diverse demands. He meant competing interests like Salinas farmers, Santa Cruz environmentalists, South Monterey County oil companies and other smaller voting pockets with their own needs demands.

“Being able to find that balance, when people come together, when they can be served,” he said. "That’s the biggest challenge."

By 8pm, he was joining a passionate crowd at Casa Munras stoked on his widening lead scrawled on a poster board while one of his young daughters and three friends snapped pictures of a TV interview. (His large lead would only grow.)

The same question came to him again, with a twist for the only local candidate for office with strong ties to Hillary Clinton: “What scares you most about this job, given the changing presidential climate?”

Around him moved heavyweights like assembled Monterey County DA Dean Flippo, Cannery Row Company point man Teddy Balestreri Jr., State Assemblymember Mark Stone, D-Scotts Valley, outgoing County Supe David Potter, a Carmel Democrat, Rep. Sam Farr, D-Carmel, and produce magnate Rick Antle.

The other VIPs drank complimentary local wines like District 7 Pinot and liquor from a no-host bar, paired with Esteban Exec Chef Thomas Snyder treats like churro puffs and lemon tarts.

"First of all,” Panetta said, "the presidential race is not over yet.”

The more meaningful (and realistic) stuff came next.

“There's been dysfunction in Washington—not just from the president, but from Congress,” he said, "and we’ll deal with it.

“This isn’t the finish line. It’s the beginning."