It’s a fitting end to an inspiration saga: 66-year-old Ron Barber won the seat of his former boss, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, Tuesday night after Giffords resigned to recover from a gunshot wound to the head. Both Barber and Giffords were victim of the January 2011 shooting that left six people dead outside an Arizona supermarket during a Giffords event with voters. Though it seems obvious he’d get the sympathy vote, Barber’s victory surprised Arizona politicians; he defeated a 30-year-old Tea Party Republican and a former Marine who served in Iraq.