AUSTIN – Democrats cheered Sunday after flipping a North Texas state Senate seat long seen as safely Republican, while GOP leaders scrambled to brush off the upset.
Taylor Rehmet’s victory Saturday shocked expectations, as the 33-year-old Air Force veteran and union leader pulled off a double-digit victory in a district that favored President Donald Trump by 17 percentage points in 2024.
“Tonight, this win goes to everyday working people,” he said at a watch party in Fort Worth after topping Republican conservative activist Leigh Wambsganss by more than 14 points, according to unofficial results.
The upset rippled quickly beyond Texas, drawing praise from national Democratic leaders who cast the result as a sign of trouble for Republicans as midterms campaigns heat up.
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“It’s clear as day this disastrous Republican agenda is hurting working families in Texas and across the country, which is why voters in red, blue and purple districts are putting their faith in candidates like Taylor Rehmet,” Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin said.
“This victory is a warning sign to Republicans across the country,” he said.
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who contributed heavily to Wambsganss’ campaign via a Senate leadership PAC, said the runoff was a “wake-up call” for the GOP in Texas. The Fort Worth-area Senate seat has been held by Republicans since the early 1990s.
“Our voters cannot take anything for granted,” Patrick said on X. “I know the energy and strength the Republican grassroots in Texas possess. We will come out fighting with a new resolve, and we will take this seat back in November.”
State Sen-elect Taylor Rehmet (D) speaks Jan. 31, 2026, in Fort Worth, Texas, after winning a special election for the Texas State Senate and flipped a reliably Republican district that President Donald Trump won by 17 points in 2024.
Darius Bowie / NBC 5
The candidates were seeking to fill an unexpired term. Before the runoff, Patrick, who leads the GOP-dominated Senate in Austin, raised alarm that Democrats would spend heavily in Texas on other contests if Rehmet won.
Resources meet upset
Wambsganss outraised and outspent Rehmet in the race for the seat, which covers most of northern Tarrant County, including parts of Fort Worth, Southlake and North Richland Hills.
She had endorsements from all of the state’s top Republicans and President Donald Trump, who gave her campaign a late push on social media and called her “an incredible supporter” of his agenda.
Trump on Sunday distanced himself from the loss. “I’m not involved in that,” he told reporters, according to The Associated Press.
Wambsganss said in a concession statement that “too many Republicans stayed home.” She said her campaign already was gearing up for a rematch in November.
Rehmet and Wambsganss are on the ballot again March 3 in their respective party’s primary. Both are running unopposed.
“Mr. Rehmet and I will face each other again in November, and I fully expect the results to be different,” she said.
She is a longtime conservative activist, former television news broadcaster and an executive for the Grapevine-based cellphone provider Patriot Mobile, which was instrumental in electing conservatives to local school boards in North Texas.
But it was not enough to beat Rehmet, a first-time candidate, Air Force veteran, aircraft mechanic at. Lockheed Martin and a labor organizer.
In the low-turnout election, which drew only about 15% of registered voters, he got 57% to Wambsganss’ 43%
Rehmet campaigned on affordability, and he had support from national organizations, including the DNC and VoteVets, a veterans group. Wambsganss focused on social issues and property tax cuts, and highlighted her endorsements from top Republicans.
A spark for Democrats
His election was a fresh shot of enthusiasm for Texas Democrats, who are the minority party in the Legislature and have not won a statewide seat in more than 30 years.
“This isn’t the finish line, it’s only the beginning,” posted U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, who is running for the Senate. “The momentum is here, and it’s only growing stronger. Never forget who the power belongs to — YOU, the people!”
The other major Democratic Senate contender, state Rep. James Talarico of Austin, framed the victory as part of a broader shift.
“Something is happening in Texas,” he said.
Bo French, a former Tarrant County GOP chair now running for the Texas Railroad Commission, dismissed Rehmet’s win as short-lived, predicting he would lose the November rematch.
Still, he said, Democrats would use the result to argue Texas is shifting politically and to ramp up fundraising, even as he insisted the state remains solidly Republican.
Rehmet and Wambsganss were vying for the seat vacated by former Sen. Kelly Hancock of North Richland Hills, who resigned in June to become acting Texas comptroller. Hancock won his last reelection by 20 percentage points in 2022.
Rehmet’s win is somewhat ceremonial. He will serve out the final year of Hancock’s unexpired term, ending Jan. 12. But, barring an unlikely special session of the Legislature, he will not be voting on any bills, because the next regular session starts in January 2027.
Nationwide gains
Democrat Taylor Rehmet’s win in a reliably Republican state Senate district is the latest boost to the party’s fortunes across the U.S. in the year since Donald Trump returned to the White House, including:
Pennsylvania: Democrats flipped a state legislative district made up of suburban and rural voters that the party hadn’t held in 100 years.
Virginia and New Jersey: Democrats won the governorships in both states.
Kentucky and Iowa: Democrats picked up state victories in special elections.
Tennessee: Republican Matt Van Epps won a special election for the U.S. House, but by a slim margin that gave Democrats hopes for the midterms.
New York City mayor: Zohran Mamdani, a Democratic Socialist, won in a race that generated the city’s highest mayoral turnout in 50 years.
The Associated Press
