Democrat Taylor Rehmet wins a reliably Republican Texas state Senate seat, stunning GOP
Taylor Rehmet flipped a historically Republican Fort Worth-area Texas Senate seat by defeating Leigh Wambsganss with a 14-point lead, boosted by $500,000 in ads from VoteVets and national support.
- On February 1, Democrat Taylor Rehmet won the Texas Senate District 9 special election in Fort Worth, with the AP projecting her at 57.2% to 42.8% with 95% of votes counted.
- Kelly Hancock's resignation prompted the special election, and Rehmet led the November election with 48%, forcing a runoff after Republican vote-splitting.
- VoteVets, a progressive national veterans PAC, spent roughly $500,000 to support Rehmet, while Wambsganss reported $736,000 in expenditures, and Gov. Dan Patrick's PAC contributed $300,000.
- Rehmet will serve roughly 11 months remaining and must win November to keep the seat; he will face Leigh Wambsganss again in a November rematch.
- The win adds to Democrats' recent special-election overperformance as party leaders say it signals momentum heading into November midterm elections and may boost attention and spending on rematches this year.
174 Articles
174 Articles
Democrat Scores Upset in Deep Red Texas Senate District; GOP Warns of ‘Wakeup Call’
Democrat Taylor Rehmet won a Texas state Senate race in a district that then-former President Donald Trump carried by 17 points in 2024, flipping a longtime Republican seat in a low-turnout special election that both parties say carries lessons for the fall. The win came on the same night that Democrat Christian Menefee prevailed in a special election for a Texas U.S. House seat, narrowing the GOP’s already slim majority in Congress’s lower cham…
Texas Democrat’s win a ‘wake-up call’ for Republicans ahead of 2026 elections
WASHINGTON — A Democratic candidate won a special election for the Texas state senate by a double-digit margin, taking control from Republicans for the first time in decades in a result the losing candidate on Sunday called “a wake-up call” for the midterm elections. The victory for a seat vacated by a four-term Republican followed a string of wins in recent months for the Democratic Party in local and state elections across the country, offerin…
It seems to be a local petitesse, but it has it in itself. Democrat Taylor Rehmet clearly triumphs in the post-election round of a seat in the Texas Senate. Republican Trump still clearly decides the district for himself in the presidential elections.
Texas Democrat flips Republican state Senate district
Democrat Taylor Rehmet flipped a reliably Republican state Senate district in Texas in Saturday's special election, continuing a string of surprise victories for Democrats across the U.S. in the year since Donald Trump returned to the White House.
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