In what Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick is calling a “wake-up call for Republicans across Texas,” a Democrat, labor union leader and veteran pummeled a Republican activist in a deep red reliably Republican state senate district in a Saturday special election.
Democrat Taylor Rehmet, 33, defeated Republican Leigh Wambsganss by double digits, 57-43, in a district that Trump won in 2024 by 17 percentage points.
The district covers Forth Worth and its northern suburbs. The incumbent ran and won in a statewide election leaving the district vacant. Rehmet will hold the seat until November when the same two candidates are set to face off again.
“In a Trump +17 district, Republicans had to go all out and still lost this race,” Ken Martin, the chair of the Democratic National Committee, said in a statement. “Tonight’s results prove that no Republican seat is safe.”
Texas Democratic Party Chair Kendall Scudder said Rehmet won by standing with working people and talking to Texans about the future. A machinist at a Lockheed Martin fighter jet plant, Rehmet said that he did not like party labels, noting that people are tired of the bipartisanship. Rehmet made public education and vocational programs central to his campaign.
Wambsganss was an activist who worked to takeover school boards on a socially conservative platform in 2022, but last year more moderate candidates ousted the socially radical candidates.
Trump endorsed Wambsganss, but has been silent so far since the defeat.
