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Democrat Taylor Rehmet wins a reliably Republican Texas state Senate seat, stunning GOP

Taylor Rehmet, a union leader and Air Force veteran, won 57% of the vote, flipping a district Trump carried by 17 points in 2024 due to energized Democratic and independent turnout.

  • On February 1, Democrat Taylor Rehmet won the Texas Senate District 9 special election in Fort Worth, with the AP projecting her at 57.2% to 42.8% with 95% of votes counted.
  • Kelly Hancock's resignation prompted the special election, and Rehmet led the November election with 48%, forcing a runoff after Republican vote-splitting.
  • VoteVets, a progressive national veterans PAC, spent roughly $500,000 to support Rehmet, while Wambsganss reported $736,000 in expenditures, and Gov. Dan Patrick's PAC contributed $300,000.
  • Rehmet will serve roughly 11 months remaining and must win November to keep the seat; he will face Leigh Wambsganss again in a November rematch.
  • The win adds to Democrats' recent special-election overperformance as party leaders say it signals momentum heading into November midterm elections and may boost attention and spending on rematches this year.
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Lean Left

The election of a democrat on Saturday in the Texas parliament could have gone unnoticed, but his unrelenting victory in a constituency widely won by Donald Trump in 2024 alarmed the Republicans a few months before the mid-term elections.

·Montreal, Canada
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Lean Left

Neither Trump's support, nor Republicans' million dollar investments managed to stop backing veteran and union leader Taylor Rehmet

Lean Left

The momentum favors Democrats in preparation for November. Despite opponents spending 20 times more in a district that Donald Trump won by 17 points in 2024, a Democrat in Texas managed to flip a state Senate district, causing a 32-point turnaround from the 2024 election. This 32-point turnaround represents the largest Democratic overtaking margin in a competitive special election since Trump took office, according to new data from G. Elliott Mo…

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Winnipeg Free Press broke the news in Winnipeg, Canada on Saturday, January 31, 2026.
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