Gov. Greg Abbott sets Nov. 4 special election for open state Senate seat

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Gov. Greg Abbott on Friday set a special election for Nov. 4 to fill the Texas Senate seat vacated by Republican Kelly Hancock, who resigned from the Legislature earlier this month to become the acting state comptroller.

The contest coincides with the state’s November uniform election, when voters across Texas will already be at the polls to elect representation for local offices and vote on numerous ballot measures, including 17 proposed amendments to the Texas Constitution.

The candidate filing deadline for the Senate District 9 special election is Sept. 3, with early voting to start Oct. 20.

Earlier Friday, conservative activist Leigh Wambsganss announced her candidacy to fill the vacant seat. Shortly after her announcement, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, the president of the Senate, endorsed Wambsganss, saying she would be a “great addition to our conservative Texas Senate.”

In a statement announcing her bid, Wambsganss said she was “not a career politician” but a “battle-tested conservative who gets results.”

“I have spent decades on the front lines of the conservative movement—leading one of the most impactful campaigns against Critical Race Theory in the country, working alongside Republican leaders during the Republican Revolution of the 1990s, and consistently standing firm for pro-life and pro-2nd Amendment values,” she said.

Wambsganss is a former congressional staffer and a longtime conservative activist on the Tarrant County GOP executive committee. She has also spearheaded the Patriot Mobile Action, a PAC that led the charge to elect conservative candidates to school boards across North Texas in 2022.

Soon after Wambsganss’s announcement, Rep. Nate Schatzline, R-Fort Worth, withdrew his own bid for the seat and endorsed her.

A Democratic candidate, veteran and union president Taylor Rehmet, is also running for the seat.

The North Texas district leans solidly Republican and covers about half of Fort Worth and much of Tarrant County’s northern suburbs. In 2024, Republican Donald Trump carried the district with 58% of the vote.

Whoever wins the special election will serve the remainder of Hancock’s term, which runs until January 2027. The seat is up for reelection in 2026.

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