With Mexico's government so concerned with the safety of this past Sunday’s midterm election that it elected to deploy around 40,000 federal police, soldiers, and marines to make sure everything went smooth, the actual outcome of the mid-terms might have taken a backseat to the drama of the democratic process that followed it.

But when the votes were counted, history had been made as Mexico now has its first independent in a governor's seat.

Jaime "El Bronco" Rodríguez, a colorful candidate who is known for wearing cowboy boots and having no problem cursing, won his seat in the prosperous northern state of of Nuevo León, receiving 49 percent of the votes.

As reported by USA Today, Rodríguez optimistically addressed his supporters in Monterrey, saying: "Mexico has awakened, and Nuevo León is the example of citizens being awakened."

“Nuevo León will be the start of a second Mexican revolution,” Rodriquez said in a post-election telephone interview quoted in the New York Times.

Rodríguez's political rise has not been without danger. When he was mayor of a Monterrey-area municipality he survived two assassination attempts orchestrated by the Los Zetas drug cartel. And the violence directed at him extends to his immediate family, as his son was killed in an attempted abduction, and his daughter was kidnapped but was later returned without harm.

President Peña Nieto’s PRI party has come out of the midterms doing unexpectedly well, retaining the majority in Congress.

As a show of gratitude for the people that braved going to the polls during a particularly dangerous period, Pena Nieto went on national television to congratulate voters for participating in the voting process.

As reported by Al Jazerra, the President said: "By voting on this day, the citizens have expressed our political will for the path of institutions. We've given direction to our plurality through our democratic system."