Democrats flip Texas state Senate seat in shock upset

[Demsrule86]

‘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.’

Trump won this seat by 17 points in 24.

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/5716988-democrats-score-upset-texas/

[Lovie777]

1. With way less money...................

[Demsrule86]

2. Exactly right. And this is TEXAS!!!!

The Texas seat is in a district Trump won by 17 points in 24.

[Demsrule86]

18. And the fact they lost a seat that Trump won by 17 points...tells us

that the GOP is in big trouble...

[Jersey Devil]

6. Yes, I read the Repub outspent the Dem by over $2 million

Exciting result!

[GoCubsGo]

7. And, without Pervert Hoover's endorsement.

Which obviously did not help his opponent.

[Demsrule86]

19. Trump is so sick...when I was 12 and babysat...the Dads would drive me home...and more than one tried to put

his hand on private areas... I never told my parents.

[orangecrush]

26. ...

[LetMyPeopleVote]

34. The Democratic candidate was outspent by 20-1

Link to tweet

TX SD-9 Fundraising:
🔴 Leigh Wambsganss: $2.5 million
🔵 Taylor Rehmet: $380k

TX SD-9 Results (>95% Reported):
🔵 Taylor Rehmet: 57.2%
🔴 Leigh Wambsganss: 42.8%

[617Blue]

3. Great News!

[Demsrule86]

4. Very good news!!!!

I was thrilled. Ann Richard’s is smiling somewhere.

[callous taoboy]

5. Great news!

[ProudMNDemocrat]

8. That says a lot. Jasmine Crockett CAN defeat John Cornyn for the US Senate!

Ole Greg and company are going to see that Texas is not as RED as they think it is.

Fingers will be pointed at TACO Don, his economic and immigration policies, his immorality, Jeffrey Epstein, Tariffs(the taxing of American consumers and more.)

Americans all across the country are fed up. More MURDER by ICE and HIGHER PRICES will break the elephant's back for sure.

[Dr. T]

15. Cornyn can point the finger at himself.

Compliance with the orange catastrophe can be fatal to your political career.

[Demsrule86]

20. I think she can...that is a statewide vote too.

[PatSeg]

9. And he won by over 14 points

[Strelnikov_]

10. So 17 + 14 31 point shift

At first, sounds unrealistic.

However, could be representative.

They are down to dead-enders for support.

[PatSeg]

12. That's what I was thinking

If the margins were very close, it would be hard to be optimistic that it could be a trend, but a 31 point shift in one year is remarkable, especially in a state like Texas.

[CrispyQ]

30. Their policies have become HUGELY unpopular, even though we warned them.

Maybe killing a responsible, gun-carrying, white, professional male, exercising his First & Second Amendments rights, was finally the line in the sand? It's one thing when a pollster is calling & another when you're in the privacy of a voting booth.

[PatSeg]

32. It is unbelievable that it had to get THIS bad

before some of these people finally got a clue. Good point that some were probably unlikely to be forthcoming with a pollster.

Perhaps people are starting to realize that there is a real danger to openly opposing the current regime.

[CrispyQ]

37. They never thought the "then they came for me" part would really happen.

Dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb. We warned them.

[PatSeg]

38. Yes, warned them over and over again for years

Guess they had to figure it out for themselves. I'm sure they are reluctant to admit that WE were right though.

But they do love playing the victim and now they can be victims of a rich powerful man who never really cared about them in the first place.

[paleotn]

14. Seriously. Who the hell can support the recent insanity?

No one but dead enders.

[Demsrule86]

22. Wow...that is a amazing!!!!

[Demsrule86]

23. Wow...I had not thought of that...

[pinkstarburst]

11. This gives me hope!

I would love to see whomever prevails in the James Talarico-Jasmine Crockett primary beat Cornyn for that senate seat in November.

[paleotn]

13. Wasn't even close. A 31 percentage point flip from the 2024 presidential race.

Perhaps there is hope that average Texans are extracting their collective heads out of their collective asses. If Texas finally gets over that hump, as Virginia did after 2004, Repukes are dead nationally.

Dems have a unique opportunity not just in TX but nationally with all that's been going on. Pukes can't run from Donnie's galactic fuck ups. If we do this right, 2026 could make the 1994 congressional landslide look small by comparison. Please, Dems, don't lose this once in a generation opportunity.

[Torchlight]

16. Hust, NRH and a big chunk of Fort Worth, it's a typical north central Texas district

nothing exceptionally poor or extravagant about it. Some retail, some distribution, some manufactiring, a lot of bedroom communitis and neighborhoods.

A very typical, rather boring district dramtically shifted about 30 gross points in this election awat from the degenerate in the white house.

An eye-opener of how 'typica;' may start to look in the coming elections...

[cbabe]

17. "Yippee Ki-Yay, motherf****r"

[Demsrule86]

24. Everyone hates Trump in Bedford Ohio where I live...there is one guy who plows and shovels who has

Trump shit up and he basically sat home during a three food snow storm because no one will hire him.

[IronLionZion]

21. Make Texas Blue Again

[Demsrule86]

25. Texas will be the new Virginia soon I hope.

[Buns_of_Fire]

29. There's hope. The same state that foisted Greg Abbott and Ken Paxton on the country

also gave us Ann Richards and Molly Ivins.

[GreenWave]

27. Yeee doggies!

[TBF]

28. I cannot wait for the Talarico victory party -

sent another donation his way yesterday!!

[pinkstarburst]

36. I have my fingers crossed! I really like him!

Wish we could have him and Jasmine, both.

[MagickMuffin]

31. And I helped, even with County judge Tim O'Hare's shenanigans

And it feels real good.

I watched a fb video which looked to be in a bar. A young man asks Wombass if she was ready to lose to Taylor and she attacked his phone, tried to knock it out of his hand.

She could've just said, we'll see after the votes have been counted. Instead she choose violence. Always with the Violence with these maga cultists.

[Mysterian]

33. I hope and pray there is still enough decency and common sense in the American people

that they will reject resoundingly the ugliness and treason of trumpism.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

35. I have been active in Texas politics for a long time and I am still hoping that Texas will turn blue

I have been following some demographic trends for a while that would indicate that Texas should turn blue. Texas is getting older and more urban. Texas was more republican that these trends would indicate in 2024 in large part because Hispanics voted for trump and the GOP in larger numbers than what one would expect. I grew up in or near the Rio Grand Valley that went for trump. I was surprised by this result.

Last night was a great result in a state senate runoff race where a Democrat won a seat by 14 percentage points that trump won by 17 percentage points.

Link to tweet

If this swing was held up nationally, Texas would be blue as would the rest of the country

Link to tweet

This race was largely symbolic in that the next time the next time the Texas legis will be in session will be after the November elections and special elections are not necessarily representative of national/regular elections.

I am encouraged by the fact that Hispanic voters in SD 9 went for the Democrat.

Link to tweet

In Texas, there is a racist tradition called sundown towns where non-whites used to have to be out of the city limits by sundown or face lynching. Vidor Texas is one such city. The democrat in this race flipped a local sundown city in this race

Link to tweet

These results are encouraging to me. I still believe that Texas will turn blue. trump's alienation of Hispanic voters should continue given the current ICE operations.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

39. MaddowBlog-As Dems flip a red district in Texas, Trump tries to distance himself from his own failure

The president insisted that he wasn’t “involved” in a special election in the Fort Worth area. Reality suggests otherwise.

Step 1: Trump begs voters in the Fort Worth area to back a GOP candidate in a special election in a red district.

Step 2: The Dem wins by double digits.

Step 3: Trump pretends Step 1 didn’t happen. www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...

— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2026-02-02T13:04:02.353Z

https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/as-dems-flip-a-red-district-in-texas-trump-tries-to-distance-himself-from-his-own-failure

There was far greater interest, however, in a state Senate special election in the suburbs of Fort Worth, Texas. A New York Times report noted last week that Republican officials worried “that even a narrow G.O.P. victory … could be a bad sign for their midterm prospects.”

The results were far from a narrow GOP victory. MS NOW reported:

Democrats flipped a seat in the Texas Senate on Saturday when Democrat Taylor Rehmet won 57% of the vote in a special election for state Senate District 9.

Rehmet, a union leader and an Air Force veteran, won the seat for the Fort Worth-area district against Republican candidate Leigh Wambsganss.

On paper, this outcome seemed wholly implausible. Donald Trump won this district by 17 points in the 2024 elections; Wambsganss heavily outspent Rehmet; the district hasn’t been competitive in three decades; and state GOP leaders, such as Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, went all out to help carry Wambsganss across the finish line in one of the nation’s largest Republican counties.

The Democratic candidate won by double digits anyway......

The outcome was obviously a difficult one for Wambsganss, the chief communications officer for Patriot Mobile, which describes itself as “America’s ONLY Christian conservative wireless provider.” But the results were also especially brutal for Donald Trump — though he was eager to pretend otherwise.

Reporter: A Democrat won a special election in Texas in an area that you won by 17 points

Trump: I’m not involved in that. That’s a local race. I don’t know anything about it. I had nothing to do with it.

— Acyn (@acyn.bsky.social) 2026-02-01T17:45:31.133Z

......Literally one day earlier, the president published the latest in a series of messages to his social media platform that read, “Today is the day! To all Voters in Texas’ 9th State Senate District: GET OUT AND VOTE for a phenomenal Candidate, Leigh Wambsganss. She is a highly successful Entrepreneur, and an incredible supporter of our Movement to, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN. You can win this Election for Leigh, who has my Complete and Total Endorsement. POLLS CLOSE AT 7 P.M. GET OUT AND VOTE FOR LEIGH WAMBSGANSS! … Leigh will NEVER let Texas, or the USA, down!”

The day before that, he also reminded local voters that he considered Wambsganss “a GREAT Candidate” who enjoyed his “Complete and Total Endorsement.”

On Saturday night, Wambsganss lost by 14 points. On midday Sunday, Trump said of the race, “Somebody ran where?” adding, “I’m not involved with that.”

He was most definitely involved with that.

[walkingman]

40. So pissed.....so now a white social influencer (Morgan Thompson) who formerly

supported Talarico has started a riff by her statement that Talarico called Colin Allred a "Mediocre Black Man" which Talarico denies.

Both Talarico and Crockett will be formidable opponents against the Cornyn/Paxton candidacy.But by making this a racist issue, with Allred now endorsing Crockett and more importantly saying that Black voters should not vote for Talarico.

So who wins? The real racists - Cornyn and Paxton because in a racist state like Texas the only way a Democrat can win is the Democrats to be united.

I would not be a bit surprised if there was some nefarious stuff going on with Allred or the social media influencer - it doesn't pass the smell test.

It is really hard to beat nasty white people and they will do anything to win.

[pinkstarburst]

41. I don't believe this for one minute

I've seen nothing but good things from James Talarico, and he has my vote in the primary. I personally believe he is our very best shot at getting that senate seat in November.

Would not surprised me AT ALL if the right is bringing out all the nasty lying tricks to try to make sure he does not advance through the primaries in March and is making stuff up. While all voting groups are important, Texas is 40% Hispanic, 40% White and 14% Black. I personally feel Talarico has a much better shot at being able to get votes from the first two groups vs Crockett, even though I love them both. We have seen based on Clinton and Harris running in 2016 and 2024 that misogyny and racism are huge factors and in deep red Texas ABSOLUTELY will be a factor.

[walkingman]

42. I feel exactly the same way. The biggest question I have is why

Crockett decided at this time to challenge Talarico now after becoming a high-profile Representative of late?

As a Texan I believe that Talarico has the best chance in Texas. I do not see Texas electing a Black US Senator (sadly) anytime soon.

I also think this could be something that is being pushed by the right in order to split the Dems? I hate to think that about Allred, but it does seem suspicious and phony at first glance.

[Torchlight]

43. I couldn't fathom any Dem candidate getting elected in TX-9 any time soon.

Tomorrow never knows.

[pinkstarburst]

44. I have always had a high opinion

of all three of them (Talarico, Crockett, Allred) and I would be more inclined to believe this is the right lying and desperately trying to do anything they can to ruin our chances in the midterms than that one of our people would do this. It comes as no surprise to me that this would happen right after that Texas senate seat upset that was such a shocker in a completely safe "red" district that Trump won by 17 points in 2024. The other thing I find notable is who won--a white male blue collar working class candidate, who was able to pick up lots of Hispanic and white votes.

I think republicans would have to look at that stunning loss, look at Talarico and Crockett and determine in the statewide November race, that Talarico is the bigger threat. I think there are far more Hispanic men who may have voted for Trump in 2024 who might be willing to switch sides and vote for a white guy vs a Black woman. Unfortunately, we've seen this play out in the last two presidential elections that we lost.