Democrat and machinist union leader Taylor Rehmet won the special election Saturday to represent a solidly red Texas Senate district that President Donald Trump carried by 17 points in 2024, a stunning upset that injected a fresh and urgent sense of a panic into the GOP from the Texas Capitol to the White House heading into November’s midterm elections. 

With ballots tallied from all but a handful of voting centers, Rehmet had 57% of the vote, besting the 43% for his GOP opponent, conservative activist Leigh Wambsganss, who vastly outspent Rehmet as Republicans including Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick mounted a furious funding push in a bid to tilt the election in their favor in the final days. 

Patrick, the Senate’s powerful presiding officer, had raised alarm bells about the race and urged Republicans to turn out — as did Trump, who posted three separate get-out-the-vote messages on social media in the 48 hours preceding the election.

The win will be short-lived for Rehmet, a first-time candidate who will serve out the roughly 11 months remaining in the term of Republican Kelly Hancock, who vacated the seat to become Texas’ acting comptroller. But the outcome serves as a warning shot for Republicans that will likely embolden Democrats as they angle for other red-leaning seats across Texas — and the country — in November. 

“It’s clear as day that 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,” Ken Martin, chair of the Democratic National Committee, said in a statement. “This overperformance is a warning sign to Republicans across the country.”

In a speech at his election night party late Saturday, Rehmet thanked his supporters for helping secure the victory.

“Tonight, this win goes to everyday working people,” he said to cheers and chants of his name.

The loss was a major setback for Wambsganss, a conservative activist whose advocacy in recent years helped make Tarrant County — nearly half of which is covered by Senate District 9 — a testing ground for socially conservative policies. Long active in GOP circles, Wambsganss rose to prominence in 2022 when she helped the GOP fill North Texas school boards with candidates who held Christian conservative views. The movement’s success resulted in an explosion across the country of book bans, rewriting of curricula and a thinner line separating church and state.

In a statement, Wambsganss said the outcome was a “wakeup call” for Republicans, but she insisted things would shake out differently in November, when she and Rehmet will face off again for a full four-year term representing the district.

“The dynamics of a special election are fundamentally different from a November general election,” Wambsganss said. “I believe the voters of Senate District 9 and Tarrant County Republicans will answer the call in November.”

Saturday’s special runoff election was necessary after Rehmet secured 47% of the vote in November, coming within about three percentage points of an outright win.

Rehmet’s near victory had already injected hope into a Democratic party eager for a blue wave in a midterm cycle that will measure the public’s response to Trump’s policies almost two years into his second term. 

Across the state Democrats have recruited candidates to run in all 150 state House districts, 16 state Senate districts and every other state and federal contest on the ballot, a display of hope that backlash to Trump’s return to office will be swift and loud even as no Democrat has won a statewide election in Texas since 1994. At stake for the GOP, candidates up and down the ballot say, is the remainder of the president’s yet-unaccomplished agenda as well as the future of the state and nation.

Rehmet’s close call in November was bolstered by the fact that he was the lone Democrat facing two GOP candidates, who split the Republican vote.

“This election is critical because the issues facing Texas right now have never been more stark,” Tarrant County GOP Chair Tim Davis wrote in an email to The Texas Tribune ahead of the election. “Do we want to live in communities that respect the rule of law, affirm life and the unborn, and protect women’s private spaces? Or do we want to live in places like what we’re seeing right now out of Minneapolis, full of fraud and chaos?”

Rehmet was far outspent in the leadup to the November election, spending $68,000 compared to millions spent by the two GOP candidates. He remained financially outgunned heading into Saturday, with Wambsganss reporting a whopping $736,000 in expenditures compared to Rehmet’s roughly $70,000, according to campaign finance filings with the state. 

Outsiders have also been spending on the race. VoteVets, a progressive national veterans PAC, poured in roughly $500,000 to boost Rehmet. Patrick, the upper chamber’s presiding officer, contributed $300,000 to Wambsganss’ campaign through his PAC, Texas Senate Leadership Fund. 

Rehmet entered Saturday with no cash on hand while Wambsganss had $310,000.

“We have an opportunity to really show that if you have a good message and you stick to voters and what they want, listen, that you can win an election as an underdog, that you can overcome millions and millions spent against you,” Rehmet said in an interview Friday. “As long as you’re doing the right thing, you can get elected.”

Wambsganss is the chief communications officer for Patriot Mobile, a cell phone company that helped back the conservative school board candidates. That role helped court her support from top state elected officials but could present lines of criticism from parents who feel socially conservatives have gone too far. Wambsganss’ campaign did not return an interview request.

To her backers, it was imperative for Wambsganss to pull out a win. 

“I’m very concerned about this election,” Patrick said in a recent radio interview. “I’m pleading with the people in Tarrant County, every Republican go out and vote for Leigh Wambsganss.”

Saturday’s winner, and loser, won’t have much time to rest as they will have to gear up for a November rematch to win a regular four-year term. Both Rehmet and Wambsganss will have no opponents in the March primary. More money could pour into the race.  

In the November 2025 election, casino magnate Miriam Adelson and her casino empire, Las Vegas Sands, poured about $3.5 million into the GOP candidate that Wambsganss trounced. Patrick, the chamber’s powerful leader, opposes casinos and Wambsganss has echoed a similar sentiment.

Still, other top GOP donors are doling out cash to ensure the seat remains red, including Texans For Lawsuit Reform PAC, a tort reform group, and Texans United for a Conservative Majority, a group started by prolific far-right donors. Both gave Wambsganss $150,000.

Among Rehmet’s biggest donors were Texas Majority PAC, the political arm of the Texas Democratic Party, which contributed more than half of his total haul with $143,383 in donations.

“His dollar per vote ratio is significantly better,” said Tarrant County Democratic Party Chair Allison Campolo ahead of Saturday. “If he wins, or even if he loses by a very small margin, it’s very bad news for the Republicans, and it really sets the stage for the whole rest of the year and all the elections to come this year.”

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