Fort Worth, Texas — Democrat Taylor Rehmet won a Texas state Senate special election Saturday, flipping a reliably Republican district that President Donald Trump carried by 17 points in 2024, according to the Associated Press.
Rehmet, a labor union leader and U.S. Air Force veteran, defeated Republican Leigh Wambsganss, a conservative activist, in a Fort Worth–area district that Republicans had held since the 1980s. With nearly all votes counted, Rehmet led 57% to 42%, a margin of more than 14 percentage points, despite being outspent during the campaign.
The seat became vacant after longtime GOP Sen. Kelly Hancock resigned last summer to take a statewide position. Hancock had easily won reelection in prior races, and the district had been considered safely Republican, even more so than Tarrant County overall. Trump won Tarrant County by five points in 2024, though Democratic President Joe Biden narrowly carried it in 2020.
National Democratic groups invested heavily in the race. VoteVets, a veterans advocacy organization, said it spent roughly $500,000 on advertising, and the Democratic National Committee also backed Rehmet’s campaign. Rehmet centered his message on lowering costs, supporting public education, protecting jobs, and veterans’ issues.
Republicans noted that the Texas Legislature will not reconvene until 2027 and that the GOP will still hold a comfortable majority in the chamber, limiting the immediate legislative impact of the result. Rehmet will serve until early January and must win the November general election to secure a full four-year term.
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