with arcpy.da.SearchCursor(fc, ("SHAPE@", "UNIQUE_ID")) as searchCur:
for row in searchCur:
        myDF.extent = row[0].extent
        myDF.scale = mapScale

        for elm in arcpy.mapping.ListLayoutElements(thisMap, "TEXT_ELEMENT"):
            elm.text = str(row[1])

        arcpy.RefreshActiveView()
        arcpy.mapping.ExportToPDF(thisMap, str(pdfLoc) + "Map_" + str(row[1]) + ".pdf", resolution=300, image_quality="Best")   #***test output location variable structure
        arcpy.AddMessage("Output --->  Map_" + str(row[1]) + ".pdf was created successfully!")
        arcpy.AddMessage(str(cycleCount) + "/" + str(recordCount))
        cycleCount += 1

for elm in arcpy.mapping.ListLayoutElements(thisMap, "TEXT_ELEMENT"):
    if elm.name == 'TestName'  #reference by named element here
        elm.text = str(row[1])  #do work here