Democrat Taylor Rehmet flipped a reliably Republican state Senate district in Texas in Saturday’s special election, continuing a string of surprise victories for Democrats across the US in the year since Donald Trump returned to the White House.
The Republican president immediately distanced himself from the loss in a district he’d won by 17 points in 2024.
“I’m not involved in that. That’s a local Texas race,” Trump told reporters Sunday at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.
Yet just a day before the race, Trump had heaped praise on Republican contender Leigh Wambsganss, a conservative activist and entrepreneur, on his social media platform, declaring that she would be “a GREAT Candidate and has my Complete and Total Endorsement.” A longer post came later, in which he urged Texans to get out and vote, describing Wambsganss as a successful entrepreneur and “an incredible supporter” of his Make America Great Again movement.
Despite the plugs, Wambsganss was easily trounced in the Fort Worth-area district by Rehmet, a labor union leader and veteran, for a partial term ending in early January. With almost all votes counted, Rehmet was leading by more than 14 percentage points.
“This win goes to everyday working people,” Rehmet told supporters.
Republican Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick called the outcome “a wake-up call for Republicans across Texas,” where the GOP controls every statewide office.
“Our voters cannot take anything for granted,” Patrick wrote on X, while noting low-turnout special elections are always unpredictable. “I know the energy and strength the Republican grassroots in Texas possess. We will come out fighting with a new resolve, and we will take this seat back in November.”
Rehmet’s victory added to the Democrats’ record of overperforming in special elections so far this cycle, beginning in March — when they prevailed in a Pennsylvania legislative district made up of suburbanites and farmers that Democrats hadn’t held in a century — and continuing through to November, when they dominated candidate and ballot contests from Maine to California.
And Zohran Mamdani, an unapologetic Democratic Socialist, was elected mayor of New York City, a Democratic stronghold that saw the highest voter turnout in a mayor’s race in 50 years.
The showings come as Trump’s approval ratings with the public hold steady at around 40 percent. A January AP-NORC poll found that a majority of US adults disapprove of the way he’s handling foreign policy, trade negotiations and immigration, as well as the economy.
Democrats said Saturday’s results in Texas were further evidence that voters under the second Trump administration are motivated to reject GOP candidates and their policies.
Texas Democratic Party Chair Kendall Scudder said Rehmet won by standing with working people and talking to Texans about the future.
“This win shows what is possible in Texas with strong organizing, great candidates and strategic investments,” he said in a statement. “People are noticing that Democrats have the workers’ backs and are delivering results.”
Democrats’ other state victories since 2025 included wins for governor in Virginia and New Jersey and in special elections in Kentucky and Iowa. And, while Republican Matt Van Epps won a Tennessee special election for a US House seat, the relatively slim margin of victory gave Democrats hope for this fall’s midterms.
With that backdrop in mind, Trump and Vice President JD Vance have pushed states to redraw their political maps to Republicans’ advantage headed into those contests, which will determine partisan control in Washington. Some Democratic states — most notably California — have pushed back with their own redistricting efforts.
The Texas Senate seat was open because the four-term GOP incumbent, Kelly Hancock, resigned to take a statewide office. Hancock easily won election each time he ran for the office, and Republicans have held the seat for decades.
The district is redder than its home, Tarrant County. Trump won the county by 5 points in 2024, but Democratic President Joe Biden carried it in 2020 by about 1,800 votes out of more than 834,000 cast.
But Rehmet had support from national organizations, including the DNC and VoteVets, a veterans group that said it spent $500,000 on ads. Rehmet, who served in the Air Force and works as a machinist, focused on lowering costs, supporting public education and protecting jobs.
Wambsganss called Saturday’s result “a wakeup call for Republicans in Tarrant County, Texas, and the nation” and warned her party not to be complacent.
“The Democrats were energized,” she said in a statement. “Too many Republicans stayed home.”
Rehmet’s victory allows him to serve only until early January. He will face Wambsganss again in the November general election to decide who occupies the seat for a full four-year term. The Texas Legislature is not set to reconvene until 2027, and the GOP still will have a comfortable majority.