Democratic State Senator-Elect Flips GOP
Stronghold with 14-Point Win in Overtime
Capitol Inside
February 1, 2026
Fort Worth Democrat Taylor Rehmet sent shock waves
through GOP circles across the USA with an amazingly easy win on Saturday night in special Texas Senate runoff election in a Tarrant County district that's been a Republican stronghold.
Rehmet - a machinist and labor leader in his first race as a candidate - defeated Republican Leigh Wambsganss of Southlake by more than 14 points in the special Senate District 9 overtime bout with over 57 percent of the vote based on the tentative tally at the Tarrant County elections office. Rehmet acknowledged that he'd won in an appearance before an election night celebration shortly after midnight on Sunday morning.
"Tonight - this win - goes to everyday working people," Rehmet said. "We'll see you out there."
Rehmet appeared to be on track for victory the moment the early voting results in SD 9 was posted shortly after the polls closed. The Democrat scored 56.2 percent of the early vote and capped off the shocker of the century in the Lone Star State with 58.1 percent of the votes that were cast in the Senate runoff on election day.
Rehmet received 54,280 votes based on the unofficial results in the first significant midterm election in the U.S. in 2026. Wambsganss garnered 40,600 votes in the special SD 9 contest that she been the prohibitive favorite to win at the outset last year. The Senate seat opened up when Governor Greg Abbott appointed the incumbent Republican Kelly Hancock as the state comptroller.
Wambsganss and the Republicans will get a shot at payback in a general election rematch with the new state senator-elect in her home county. Wambsganss and Rehmet are both unopposed on their respective sides of the aisle in the primary election on March 3. But the GOP's candidate in the Tarrant Senate district will have to step her game dramatically after a dismal showing in a special election runoff that the Republican governor promised she would win on the eve of the OT vote.
Rehmet advanced to the runoff with 47 percent of the initial vote in November and a 12-point lead. But GOP voters there had split their support between Wambsganss and a second Republican in John Huffman. Wambsganss scored a spot in overtime while Huffman was eliminated with a third place finish and 16 percent of the vote last fall.
President Donald Trump endorsed Wambsganss for the first time in August and praised her as a "phenomenal candidate" and "incredible supporter" of the MAGA movement in a follow-up plug the night before the runoff vote. Trump said in a Truth Social post that Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick believed that a Wambsganss victory in the runoff was necessary if Republicans hoped to keep the Lone Star State red in the fall.
The Texas Senate Leadership Fund that Patrick has bankrolled pumped close to a quarter-million dollars into the Wambsganss campaign before and after the initial election in SD 9 including a six-figure sum in the final week of overtime.
The special election in SD 9 was widely regarded as the first significant bellwether for the midterm elections in Trump's second White House term. Republicans thought that anything less than a double-digit win for Wambsganss would be a bad sign for GOP's prospects in the general election in Texas and beyond.
Democrats had been confident of reclaiming the U.S. House majority in 2026 before the OT vote in SD 9. The Democrats in Texas hope to parlay the momentum from Rehmet's classic underdog victory into statewide, congressional and Texas House contests on the fall ballot when Abbott and Patrick will both be up for re-election.
Trump contended in the SD 9 plug that "the Radical Left Democrats are spending a fortune to beat a true MAGA Warrior, Leigh Wambsbanss." But Wambsganss actually had almost five times more to spend on the special election in SD 9 than Rehmet.
The Democratic National Committee rallied behind Rehmet on Friday. "The DNC is supporting the Texas Democratic coordinated campaign by recruiting volunteers and bringing our message to more voters. Democrats are building infrastructure in Texas, and the January 31 special election is a crucial test to keep Fort Worth moving forward."
more to come ...
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