Democrats Flipped a Texas Senate Seat That Trump Won by 17 Points
On January 31, 2026, machinist union leader Taylor Rehmet won the special election runoff for Texas Senate District 9 with 57 percent of the vote. His Republican opponent, conservative activist Leigh Wambsganss, got 43 percent. In a district Donald Trump carried by 17 points in 2024, that's a roughly 31-point swing in the margins.
Rehmet is an Air Force veteran, a labor union leader, and a machinist from the Fort Worth area. Wambsganss had the money -- a massive spending advantage plus a last-minute funding push from Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick. Trump himself posted about the race three separate times in the two days before the election. None of it mattered.
The Numbers Don't Lie
Senate District 9 covers a large portion of Tarrant County in North Texas. This isn't some tiny rural seat -- the district is home to nearly one million people, bigger than a congressional district. Trump won it by 17 in 2024. The broader Tarrant County went for Trump by only 5 points, but the district itself was supposed to be safe Republican territory for years to come.
Rehmet captured roughly 79 percent of the Hispanic vote, a 26-point improvement over the 53 percent that Kamala Harris pulled in the same area in November 2024. Suburban voters and working-class independents broke for him hard. His campaign message -- reduce costs, support public education, protect jobs -- wasn't flashy. It was specific. And it worked.
DNC Chairman Ken Martin called the result "a warning sign to Republicans across the country."
The Same Night, Another Blow
The same evening, Democrat Christian Menefee won the special election for Texas's 18th Congressional District in Houston, completing the term of the late Rep. Sylvester Turner. Menefee beat Amanda Edwards with 68 percent of the vote, and once sworn in, narrowed the House Republican majority to 218-214 -- meaning the GOP can only afford a single defection on party-line votes.
Two Democratic wins in Texas on the same night. One in a deep-blue Houston district that was expected. One in a ruby-red Fort Worth-area Senate seat that absolutely was not.
What Happens Next
Rehmet can only serve the remaining 11 months of the term he won. He and Wambsganss will face off again in the November general election for a full four-year term. Both are running unopposed in their March primaries.
The VoteVets organization spent roughly $500,000 on advertising for Rehmet. Trump's three social media posts for Wambsganss didn't close the gap. If anything, the loss exposes how fragile the Republican hold on suburban Texas has become. Tarrant County was once the largest reliably red county in America. It's not anymore.
Republicans can write this off as a low-turnout special election anomaly. Or they can look at a 31-point swing in a Trump +17 district and start asking harder questions about what's coming in November.
Texas Tribune: Full Election Coverage
NPR: Democrat Taylor Rehmet Wins Texas Senate Seat