Democrat Taylor Rehmet flips a Texas state Senate seat in district Trump won by 17 points
By Ethan Cohen, CNN
(CNN) — Democrats notched another victory Saturday in special elections during President Donald Trump’s second term, flipping a seat in the Texas Senate in a district Trump won by 17 points in 2024.
Taylor Rehmet, a union president and Air Force veteran, defeated Trump-backed Leigh Wambsganss in a runoff for the Fort Worth-area 9th District.
With nearly all of the vote counted as of Sunday morning, Rehmet holds a 14-point lead over Wambsganss, a roughly 31-point swing toward the Democrats when compared with the 2024 presidential results there and one of the party’s strongest recent special election performances.
Rehmet won 48% in November’s first round against Wambsganss, a GOP activist and executive at conservative wireless provider Patriot Mobile, and one other Republican. His victory Saturday marks the latest success for Democrats ahead of this year’s midterms.
Trump had made a late push for Wambsganss, posting on social media in support of her campaign three times in the last two days of the race.
But asked by reporters Sunday in Florida for his reaction to the results, Trump said shrugged them off, saying, “I’m not involved in it. That’s a local Texas race.”
“It’s too bad, what can I say? I have nothing to do with it,” Trump added, distancing himself from the loss.
Democrats flipped more than 20 state legislative seats in special or regularly scheduled elections last year. Most recently, in December they won a Georgia district that Trump had carried by about 12 points.
Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin pointed to Rehmet’s win as proof that the party is regaining its footing when it comes to broader voter outreach and messaging ahead of the midterms.
“We’ve seen a historic overperformance throughout the country just in last year’s elections,” Martin said Sunday on MS NOW. “And it’s because the DNC has taken a big bet, and that big bet is that we’re going to invest in deep-down-ballot races to make sure we’re building power around our agenda throughout the country.”
The Texas seat has been vacant since last summer, when Republican Kelly Hancock resigned to become the state’s acting comptroller.
This story has been updated with additional details.
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CNN’s Riane Lumer and Dalia Abdelwahab contributed to this report.
