 |
| Leigh Wambsganss (R) |
$2,954,316 |
$200,000 |
$96,426 |
| Taylor Rehmet (D) |
$564,158 |
$0 |
$114,335 |
|
Patrick PAC Pumps $102K into SD 9 Fight
in Closing Stretch in Sign of Upset Fears
Capitol Inside
January 29, 2026
Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick is pouring money into Southlake Republican Leigh Wambsganss' bid for the Texas Senate in the final stretch before a special election runoff in a bid to keep a perfect record intact in races for the east wing in Austin in which he's had a horse in districts that the GOP controlled. .
Wambsganss received a six-digit infusion early this week from the Texas Senate Leadership Fund that Patrick controls for digital advertising, phone banks, polling and block-walking efforts amid the countdown to the special overtime vote in Senate District 9 on Saturday. Wambsganss is fight to overcome Democrat Taylor Rehmet's surprising first-round lead in the special competition in SD 9 in November when he came close to winning outright with almost 48 percent of the vote.
The eyes of the nation are on the special Tarrant County Senate contest as a potential harbinger for the general election in the Lone Star State and across the nation in 2026 when Democrats expect to reclaim the U.S. House majority and pick up seats in the Texas House if they don't take the lower chamber back as well. Democrats made significant gains in legislative races around the country in states with swing potential in the past year - and the special SD 9 overtime bout this weekend could be a bad sign for the GOP here and beyond if Rehmet emerges from it victoriously or finishes close in the final tally.
But the special election runoff in Tarrant County has personal angle for the lieutenant governor, who's never been on the losing side in an open race for the Legislature's upper chamber in GOP-controlled districts where he endorsed and helped bankroll specific candidates. Eight of the Senate's current Republican members had Patrick paving the way for them when they won seats. Four were state representatives at the time while four had no experience in the lawmaking arena when they rode the powerful chamber president's support to victories in open races. .
The Republicans were caught off guard, however, when Rehmet seized the lead in the special SD 9 competition with a first-place showing at the polls in the initial election there last fall. Rehmet finished 12 points higher than Wambsganss in the first round of voting in SD 9 when she received 36 percent and a second Republican - John Huffman - was eliminated with 16 percent of the total.
Wambsganss appears to be a slight favorite in the runoff this weekend based on the presumption that she will have a sufficient number of Huffman voters in her corner to overcome the initial deficit. Fifty-two percent of the votes that were cast in the first round in SD 9 went to one of the two Republicans.
But Patrick is clearly worried about a possible upset based on the money the Texas Senate Leadership Fund has spent on Wambsganss in the countdown to the OT vote. Wambsganss reported non-monetary contributions of almost $103,000 from the Patrick-funded PAC on January 26 for a variety of expenses in the stretch before the finish line. Wambsganss recorded several individual donations worth $5,500 combined in the runoff's final week
Rehmet only added $7,500 from three separate contributors to his war chest in the same span of time. Wambsganss' donations in the stretch pushed the total take for the special SD 9 race to nearly $3 million. But Rehmet has had a sufficient amount to be competitive at a time when the national climate looks bad for the GOP in the first midterm election in President Donald Trump's second term.
The Republicans would have a shot to take SD 9 back at the polls in November if Rehmet beats Wambsganss this week in a district where Trump and U.S. Senator Cruz defeated Democratic rivals by 17 points and 12 points respectively in SD 9 in 2024. The Tarrant seat has been open since Republican Kelly Hancock's appointment as state comptroller by Governor Greg Abbott last summer.
Democrat Dan Barrett of Fort Worth won a special Texas House election runoff in a Tarrant County district in 2007 after veteran Republican Rep. Anna Mowery resigned in midterm. But Republican Mark Shelton got payback in a rematch in the 2008 general election when he beat Barrett by 12 points. Barrett never cast a vote in a legislative session in House District 97 where Mowery had defeated him by 12 points in the general election in 2006.
more to come ...
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