BOSTON (MyFoxBoston.com) -- A huge story out of Massachusetts' 6th Congressional district, which covers the North Shore and Merrimack Valley. Thirty-six-year-old political newcomer Seth Moulton beat out Republican Richard Tisei by more than 10 percentage points. What's even more remarkable is that Moulton's campaign manager was also a political newbie.
Moulton performed what many saw as the impossible by first beating out 17-year incumbent John Tierney and then Tisei. What is more unbelievable to some is that his campaign manager is 26-year-old local who had never worked on a political campaign before. In fact, before Jeff Phaneuf was Moulton's campaign manager, he was his driver.
"I had never even participated in a phone bank before so to plan and run those was a new adventure for me," Phaneuf said.
Moulton started off the campaign with a seasoned national political vet running his campaign, but this summer, before the primary, Moulton parted ways with him and hired Phaneuf.
"The race got very heated and I needed a calm steady hand at the helm and I thought that was Jeff," Moulton said.
Phaneuf and Moulton first met at Harvard when Phaneuf was an undergrad and Moulton was a grad student. It was Moulton, already a Marine at that time, who encouraged Phaneuf to enlist in the military. And he did.
Moutlon says it's that Marine training that made him confident Phaneuf was the right man for the job.
"Sometimes the ability to lead trumps experience," Moulton said.
There's also another twist in the story. Just two days before Phaneuf was promoted to campaign manager, he re-applied for active duty in the Marines and was accepted. He's still waiting to hear from them about if and when he might be deployed, but if he is he says he'll answer the call.
He says he feels strongly about honoring his commitments whether it be working for his now Congressman-elect or fighting for our country.