Democrats scored a stunning upset on Saturday in a special election runoff for Texas Senate, according to a projection from Decision Desk HQ, giving the party a major boost ahead of the November midterms.
Fort Worth Democrat Taylor Rehmet, a machinist and Air Force veteran, defeated Southlake Republican Leigh Wambsganss to fill the vacant state Senate District 9.
The district favored President Trump — who endorsed Wambsganss earlier on Saturday — by 18 points in 2024. The race went to a runoff after none of the candidates were able to clinch a majority in the November election.
Rehmet’s overperformance in the fall stoked concerns for the GOP, and a number of prominent party leaders, including Gov. Greg Abbott (R), intervened in the race in an effort to boost Wambsganss.
The_Phasers on
57.2%D – 42.8%R with 95% of the vote in.
This was a Trump +18 district in 2024.
What an upset. That’s a swing of 32 pts.
pghtopas on
grassroots union organizer. Maybe run more of these candidates.
PicklesTheHamster on
Definitely made sure to get my vote in before the winter storm hit us.
Responsible-Cow-9929 on
Incoming blue wave will be huge!
XcuseMeMisISpeakJive on
I think they’re underestimating how angry and fed up people are.
magnamed on
Holy shit. And they still somehow don’t see how unpopular the current admin is.
Green_Wing_Spino on
Good news to hear from up to Fort Worth too!
finding_thriving on
Let’s go Texas! That’s awesome keep it going 👏
AffectionateLet7144 on
Republicans can’t win without rigging.
SaintPeter74 on
This is only a shock if you have not been paying attention to public opinion for the last year, all the other GOP loses in special elections, and the now even thinner margins on the gerrymandered to fuck Texas electoral maps.
Still, love to see it.
Telandria on
To be frank, while this is nice to hear, and I highly encourage all my fellow Texans to vote blue….
*As* a life-long Texan, I still have my doubts it’s gonna matter much. It’s too early to be celebrating. Call me when Ted Cruz gets booted, then I’ll believe we’re in for some real change around here.
magnamed on
And look at that, Christian Menefee just won Texas’ US house seat also in a special election. Dems have been making huge gains everywhere.
Choice-of-SteinsGate on
Despite what the pro-Trump world will tell you, 2025’s off year election results indicate a sharp rebuke of him and his policies.
In last year’s elections, gains were made in almost every county when compared with how those counties voted in 2024. In other words, Trump voters came out to vote for Democrats in these elections.
MAGA is coping by trying hopelessly to downplay the outcomes of these elections; arguing something to the effect of, “Dems were supposed to win” while ignoring data that speaks to a sizable shift in support.
Their defensiveness just reveals their insecurities about these swings and their responses also point to a typical disregard for nuance, facts and context.
Aside from voter crossover, data also shows significant shifts with Latino voters especially. We saw very high, and in some cases, record turnouts. Multiple precincts shifted from red to blue.
In Virginia, exit polling also revealed that over 70% of voters casted their ballot in opposition to Trump.
Not to mention that this clean sweep extended to elections across the country.
Democrats retained a state supreme Court majority in PA, and in Georgia, Democrats won two seats on the Public Service Commission; positions that were previously dominated by Republicans for over two decades.
In CA, voters came out in droves to vote overwhelmingly in favor of proposition 50. Election data shows that some counties that carried Trump in 2024 also supported prop 50. Meaning that even some Trump voters backed the measure.
Trump can also thank himself for emboldening some fresh and energetic democratic leaders willing to break from the status quo.
Trump’s approval ratings have been consistently underwater throughout his entire term and there has been an indication of support for progressive, reformist and leftist candidates in response to Trump’s kleptocratic and authoritarian policies.
In fact, Trump’s approval ratings have hit second term lows, this was also a historic low for second term presidents going all the way back to Nixon.
Trump has failed to address the immediate problems that Americans care most about in any sort of fundamental way. Made more evident by the fact that a majority of Americans disapprove of his handling of nearly every issue; including the economy; an issue primarily campaigned on no less.
Instead of addressing the “affordability crisis,” Trump will continue to focus his attention on pageantry, pomp and circumstance; on exploiting his power to obstruct justice; on using his office to enrich himself, his family, and his wealthy benefactors; on covering up his corruption scandals; on weaponizing the government against his political opponents; on federalizing the military to carry out his unconstitutional whims, and on transforming the presidency into a quasi-dictatorship and kleptocracy.
Turns out, these things aren’t very popular
ScrewAttackThis on
It wasn’t even close, damn
> “When a grassroots union organizer like Taylor Rehmet overperforms by almost 20 points and forces a runoff, it couldn’t be any clearer that voters are tired of Republican bullshit,” Texas Democratic Party Chairman Kendall Scudder said
That’s the kind of energy I like seeing. The we go high when they go low bullshit is lame. Just act in good faith and call things as they are.
SputnikFace on
-Wambsganss
cmon. is this a joke?
utti on
This is one reason the mid-cycle gerrymandering by Texas GOP didn’t make me completely pissed (though I was still angry at the blatant cheating). They had to stretch their margins super thin and if they lose midterms by a slightly higher percentage than normal, the gerrymandering will backfire spectacularly.
brain_overclocked on
>The district favored President Trump — who endorsed Wambsganss earlier on Saturday — by 17 points in 2024. The race went to a runoff after none of the candidates were able to clinch a majority in the November election.
>Rehmet’s overperformance in the fall stoked concerns for the GOP, and a number of prominent party leaders, including Gov. Greg Abbott (R), intervened in the race in an effort to boost Wambsganss.
>“When a grassroots union organizer like Taylor Rehmet overperforms by almost 20 points and forces a runoff, it couldn’t be any clearer that voters are tired of Republican bullshit,” Texas Democratic Party Chairman Kendall Scudder said in a statement after the November race.
I will keep saying this over and over: change doesn’t start at the midterms, it starts at every state, county, judicial, sheriff, mayor, city council, and education board election that happens between *now* and the midterms. *Because we shouldn’t wait until the midterms*. *Every* seat Democrats win at any level makes rigging the midterms that much harder for Trump.
As someone in his district (and it’s gerrymandered to hell and back to pack the dem candidate in the city limits, I’m ecstatic to see him win.
She was an absolutely rotten west Texas funded candidate who was instrumental in trying to fuck over a large school district in the senate boundaries she was running for. I’m pretty sure that helped galvanize support against her as well since she spent a lot of political capital there and many of those residents still had a very bitter taste in their mouth over that.
If anything, I sincerely hope that there’s far more plurality in the state house to inhibit the Republicans from passing their shit-tastic and performative bullshit bills while making them do a little soul searching and stop the ultra maga candidates from even being viable in even primary races.
The absolute cherry on top would be if their new gerrymanded maps completely fucking backfire on them.
ChampionEither5412 on
This is great, and we need to notice that he’s a machinist and military vet. Voters like people with regular jobs. Which is of course very difficult bc of how time consuming and expensive running can be, so we have to work on making running more accessible to people with normal jobs.
vriska1 on
Can we stop saying voting does not matter now! Please vote in the midterms!
PurpleGeneral5511 on
One election at a time it’s coming for you, MAGAts
Ddddydya on
This is great news!
It makes me wonder…there are so many accusations that Republicans cheated during the last election. But if so, wouldn’t they still be cheating?
Hopefully November will be the biggest blue wave in history and Democrats will do a good job once they’re in charge again.
LucidOndine on
The writing is on the wall. All of the traitors to the constitution are going to have a day of reckoning.
EmilySD101 on
“The seat opened up after Republican state Sen. Kelly Hancock was tapped as acting state comptroller.” They did it to themselves
OhioValleyCat on
OMG. A sign of potential relief from the current Amerifascist Order.
Tokyo-MontanaExpress on
Say this trend continues and Democrats demolish the midterms: how are they going to deliver just retribution and bring some Republicans back into civilized society? What does reunification look like? Probably too wide of a topic here, but I feel like there’s got to at least be a scarlet letter-esque outcome after putting a halt to their domestic terrorism, especially in red states and counties where they’ve been in power. Maybe by giving them the opportunity to form a new more liberal party and banning the Republican Party.
bobjr94 on
People don’t like republicans anymore ? I am shocked. Well not really.
lifeat24fps on
Beat a +17 Trump district by 15 points. Wow.
1CaliCALI on
Shock? With how Republicans are dismantling this country?
bellamy-bl8ke on
Missing context is that the republican wanted to split up a school ISD, and many republicans actively voted against her just on that alone. HOWEVER, I hope this is a really, REALLY good omen for November
Mr_TreeBeard on
I know this is a runoff in an off year, but showing up to vote matters. In 2022, this race saw over 170,000 votes. Today, less than 90,000 showed up. Even in red ass Texas, we can win if we show up to the polls!
RobutNotRobot on
32 point flip is kind of insane.
Fuck Republicans. Traitors to this country.
un_internaute on
The Republican Party needs to be forcibly dissolved, banned, and outlawed from ever reforming. Just like the Nazi Party.
mildurajackaroo on
Precursor to the midterms. GoP is going to eat dust.
IndividualBusy1274 on
Midterms will be a sweep. 🧹. And maybe by then, Donald’s goofy base will have actually been educated in what he is all about. Lol. No they won’t. They don’t care. Republicans like pedos and sex with kids. Prove me wrong.
Bythion on
I unfortunately live like a neighborhood over from district 9, so I wasn’t able to help with my vote. I was, however, protesting today with a few hundred other people in Fort Worth this afternoon. This actually gives me so much hope for our state and the country. Everyone needs to vote in everyone upcoming election, no matter how small!!
ForensicPathology on
Local elections are some of the most important things right now. Don’t let the election boards, school boards, and county seats continue to fall to right-wing loyalists with bad intentions.
FLee21 on
What’s shocking is Dem voters turned out. This needs to happen more.
stickerhighway on
*”Here’s how that spells bad news for Biden…”*
NameLips on
Man wouldn’t it be hilarious if even their new gerrymandered map didn’t work out for them?
There’s such a thing as over-gerrymandering. Where they get too greedy and go for too many seats, and end up with a narrow margin in too many districts. That margin is vulnerable, and suddenly they can flip control the other way.
OpinionDude5000 on
Dems need to become the party of freedom, American values, law and order, a return to normalcy. Own those issues, and the Dems take back the House.
GimlisAxolotl on
Welcome to the resistance… (checks notes) …Texas?
BucktoothedAvenger on
Nice, now do the national seats.
Persea_americana on
Turns out being a bunch of stupid pedophiles ruining everything is really really unpopular.
45 Comments
From the article:
Democrats scored a stunning upset on Saturday in a special election runoff for Texas Senate, according to a projection from Decision Desk HQ, giving the party a major boost ahead of the November midterms.
Fort Worth Democrat Taylor Rehmet, a machinist and Air Force veteran, defeated Southlake Republican Leigh Wambsganss to fill the vacant state Senate District 9.
The district favored President Trump — who endorsed Wambsganss earlier on Saturday — by 18 points in 2024. The race went to a runoff after none of the candidates were able to clinch a majority in the November election.
Rehmet’s overperformance in the fall stoked concerns for the GOP, and a number of prominent party leaders, including Gov. Greg Abbott (R), intervened in the race in an effort to boost Wambsganss.
57.2%D – 42.8%R with 95% of the vote in.
This was a Trump +18 district in 2024.
What an upset. That’s a swing of 32 pts.
grassroots union organizer. Maybe run more of these candidates.
Definitely made sure to get my vote in before the winter storm hit us.
Incoming blue wave will be huge!
I think they’re underestimating how angry and fed up people are.
Holy shit. And they still somehow don’t see how unpopular the current admin is.
Good news to hear from up to Fort Worth too!
Let’s go Texas! That’s awesome keep it going 👏
Republicans can’t win without rigging.
This is only a shock if you have not been paying attention to public opinion for the last year, all the other GOP loses in special elections, and the now even thinner margins on the gerrymandered to fuck Texas electoral maps.
Still, love to see it.
To be frank, while this is nice to hear, and I highly encourage all my fellow Texans to vote blue….
*As* a life-long Texan, I still have my doubts it’s gonna matter much. It’s too early to be celebrating. Call me when Ted Cruz gets booted, then I’ll believe we’re in for some real change around here.
And look at that, Christian Menefee just won Texas’ US house seat also in a special election. Dems have been making huge gains everywhere.
Despite what the pro-Trump world will tell you, 2025’s off year election results indicate a sharp rebuke of him and his policies.
In last year’s elections, gains were made in almost every county when compared with how those counties voted in 2024. In other words, Trump voters came out to vote for Democrats in these elections.
MAGA is coping by trying hopelessly to downplay the outcomes of these elections; arguing something to the effect of, “Dems were supposed to win” while ignoring data that speaks to a sizable shift in support.
Their defensiveness just reveals their insecurities about these swings and their responses also point to a typical disregard for nuance, facts and context.
Aside from voter crossover, data also shows significant shifts with Latino voters especially. We saw very high, and in some cases, record turnouts. Multiple precincts shifted from red to blue.
In Virginia, exit polling also revealed that over 70% of voters casted their ballot in opposition to Trump.
Not to mention that this clean sweep extended to elections across the country.
Democrats retained a state supreme Court majority in PA, and in Georgia, Democrats won two seats on the Public Service Commission; positions that were previously dominated by Republicans for over two decades.
In CA, voters came out in droves to vote overwhelmingly in favor of proposition 50. Election data shows that some counties that carried Trump in 2024 also supported prop 50. Meaning that even some Trump voters backed the measure.
Trump can also thank himself for emboldening some fresh and energetic democratic leaders willing to break from the status quo.
Trump’s approval ratings have been consistently underwater throughout his entire term and there has been an indication of support for progressive, reformist and leftist candidates in response to Trump’s kleptocratic and authoritarian policies.
In fact, Trump’s approval ratings have hit second term lows, this was also a historic low for second term presidents going all the way back to Nixon.
Trump has failed to address the immediate problems that Americans care most about in any sort of fundamental way. Made more evident by the fact that a majority of Americans disapprove of his handling of nearly every issue; including the economy; an issue primarily campaigned on no less.
Instead of addressing the “affordability crisis,” Trump will continue to focus his attention on pageantry, pomp and circumstance; on exploiting his power to obstruct justice; on using his office to enrich himself, his family, and his wealthy benefactors; on covering up his corruption scandals; on weaponizing the government against his political opponents; on federalizing the military to carry out his unconstitutional whims, and on transforming the presidency into a quasi-dictatorship and kleptocracy.
Turns out, these things aren’t very popular
It wasn’t even close, damn
> “When a grassroots union organizer like Taylor Rehmet overperforms by almost 20 points and forces a runoff, it couldn’t be any clearer that voters are tired of Republican bullshit,” Texas Democratic Party Chairman Kendall Scudder said
That’s the kind of energy I like seeing. The we go high when they go low bullshit is lame. Just act in good faith and call things as they are.
-Wambsganss
cmon. is this a joke?
This is one reason the mid-cycle gerrymandering by Texas GOP didn’t make me completely pissed (though I was still angry at the blatant cheating). They had to stretch their margins super thin and if they lose midterms by a slightly higher percentage than normal, the gerrymandering will backfire spectacularly.
>The district favored President Trump — who endorsed Wambsganss earlier on Saturday — by 17 points in 2024. The race went to a runoff after none of the candidates were able to clinch a majority in the November election.
>Rehmet’s overperformance in the fall stoked concerns for the GOP, and a number of prominent party leaders, including Gov. Greg Abbott (R), intervened in the race in an effort to boost Wambsganss.
>“When a grassroots union organizer like Taylor Rehmet overperforms by almost 20 points and forces a runoff, it couldn’t be any clearer that voters are tired of Republican bullshit,” Texas Democratic Party Chairman Kendall Scudder said in a statement after the November race.
I will keep saying this over and over: change doesn’t start at the midterms, it starts at every state, county, judicial, sheriff, mayor, city council, and education board election that happens between *now* and the midterms. *Because we shouldn’t wait until the midterms*. *Every* seat Democrats win at any level makes rigging the midterms that much harder for Trump.
–
Keep the pressure on:
2025 – https://old.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/1q02grt/democrat_wins_iowa_state_senate_race_blocking_gop/nwv0ouy/
–
**2026:**
Jan 6 – [Democrats Jones, Schmidt win Richmond-area General Assembly seats](https://www.vpm.org/elections/2026-01-06/mike-jones-charlie-schmidt-general-assembly-special-elections-sd15-hd77)
Jan 13
– [Democrats win 2 special Virginia state House elections](https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/5687444-democrats-win-virginia-special-elections/)
– [Democrat Pemberton Jr. wins special election for 139th CT House seat](https://www.wtnh.com/news/elections/democrat-pemberton-jr-wins-special-election-for-139th-ct-house-seat/)
– [Chris Dzadovsky wins Fort Pierce commission seat by 31 votes, flips control to Democrats](https://www.wptv.com/news/region-st-lucie-county/fort-pierce/chris-dzadovsky-wins-fort-pierce-commission-seat-by-31-votes-flips-control-to-democrats)
Jan 20 – [Democrat McGuire wins Virginia House District 17 special election](https://virginiamercury.com/2026/01/20/democrat-mcguire-wins-virginia-house-district-17-special-election/)
Jan 27 – [Democrats win two Minnesota special elections, bringing state House back to a tie](https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/5708065-democrats-win-minnesota-house-seats/)
**Jan 31**
– [Democrats flip Texas state Senate seat in shock upset](https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/5716988-democrats-score-upset-texas/amp/)
– [Democrat Christian Menefee Wins Election For U.S. House, Narrowing GOP’s Slim Majority](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/democrat-christian-menefee-wins-election-for-us-house-narrowing-gops-slim-majority_n_697ed0a1e4b0c862d1f51138/amp)
–
[Here](https://old.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/1qqjyqd/how_is_your_opinion_on_the_us_government_shutdown/o2jfh2t/) is a list of primary dates.
As someone in his district (and it’s gerrymandered to hell and back to pack the dem candidate in the city limits, I’m ecstatic to see him win.
She was an absolutely rotten west Texas funded candidate who was instrumental in trying to fuck over a large school district in the senate boundaries she was running for. I’m pretty sure that helped galvanize support against her as well since she spent a lot of political capital there and many of those residents still had a very bitter taste in their mouth over that.
If anything, I sincerely hope that there’s far more plurality in the state house to inhibit the Republicans from passing their shit-tastic and performative bullshit bills while making them do a little soul searching and stop the ultra maga candidates from even being viable in even primary races.
The absolute cherry on top would be if their new gerrymanded maps completely fucking backfire on them.
This is great, and we need to notice that he’s a machinist and military vet. Voters like people with regular jobs. Which is of course very difficult bc of how time consuming and expensive running can be, so we have to work on making running more accessible to people with normal jobs.
Can we stop saying voting does not matter now! Please vote in the midterms!
One election at a time it’s coming for you, MAGAts
This is great news!
It makes me wonder…there are so many accusations that Republicans cheated during the last election. But if so, wouldn’t they still be cheating?
Hopefully November will be the biggest blue wave in history and Democrats will do a good job once they’re in charge again.
The writing is on the wall. All of the traitors to the constitution are going to have a day of reckoning.
“The seat opened up after Republican state Sen. Kelly Hancock was tapped as acting state comptroller.” They did it to themselves
OMG. A sign of potential relief from the current Amerifascist Order.
Say this trend continues and Democrats demolish the midterms: how are they going to deliver just retribution and bring some Republicans back into civilized society? What does reunification look like? Probably too wide of a topic here, but I feel like there’s got to at least be a scarlet letter-esque outcome after putting a halt to their domestic terrorism, especially in red states and counties where they’ve been in power. Maybe by giving them the opportunity to form a new more liberal party and banning the Republican Party.
People don’t like republicans anymore ? I am shocked. Well not really.
Beat a +17 Trump district by 15 points. Wow.
Shock? With how Republicans are dismantling this country?
Missing context is that the republican wanted to split up a school ISD, and many republicans actively voted against her just on that alone. HOWEVER, I hope this is a really, REALLY good omen for November
I know this is a runoff in an off year, but showing up to vote matters. In 2022, this race saw over 170,000 votes. Today, less than 90,000 showed up. Even in red ass Texas, we can win if we show up to the polls!
32 point flip is kind of insane.
Fuck Republicans. Traitors to this country.
The Republican Party needs to be forcibly dissolved, banned, and outlawed from ever reforming. Just like the Nazi Party.
Precursor to the midterms. GoP is going to eat dust.
Midterms will be a sweep. 🧹. And maybe by then, Donald’s goofy base will have actually been educated in what he is all about. Lol. No they won’t. They don’t care. Republicans like pedos and sex with kids. Prove me wrong.
I unfortunately live like a neighborhood over from district 9, so I wasn’t able to help with my vote. I was, however, protesting today with a few hundred other people in Fort Worth this afternoon. This actually gives me so much hope for our state and the country. Everyone needs to vote in everyone upcoming election, no matter how small!!
Local elections are some of the most important things right now. Don’t let the election boards, school boards, and county seats continue to fall to right-wing loyalists with bad intentions.
What’s shocking is Dem voters turned out. This needs to happen more.
*”Here’s how that spells bad news for Biden…”*
Man wouldn’t it be hilarious if even their new gerrymandered map didn’t work out for them?
There’s such a thing as over-gerrymandering. Where they get too greedy and go for too many seats, and end up with a narrow margin in too many districts. That margin is vulnerable, and suddenly they can flip control the other way.
Dems need to become the party of freedom, American values, law and order, a return to normalcy. Own those issues, and the Dems take back the House.
Welcome to the resistance… (checks notes) …Texas?
Nice, now do the national seats.
Turns out being a bunch of stupid pedophiles ruining everything is really really unpopular.