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Republicans in Texas and across the U.S. are voicing concern following Taylor Rehmet’s shock runoff election victory in a historic GOP stronghold over the weekend.
Rehmet, a Tarrant County Democrat and union leader, received over 57% of the vote in a state senate district where President Donald Trump won by 17 points in 2024. He will replace former state Sen. Kelly Hancock, who vacated the seat in June after being appointed by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott as the acting state comptroller.
The special election went into a runoff after neither Rehmet nor Republican candidate Leigh Wambsganss received the required majority of more than 50% of the vote in November.
State Senate District 9, which Rehmet will represent, comprises almost all of northern Fort Worth and Tarrant County, a solidly Republican area in past elections. The GOP has represented the district since 1981, when state Senator Bill Meier left the Democratic Party.
Speaking in a crowded room in Fort Worth’s Near Southside Saturday night, Rehmet told supporters that “this win goes to everyday working people.”
The election and its fallout have gained considerable attention from national figures on both sides of the aisle in recent days. In an X post from Sunday, Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis expressed concern about the November elections while acknowledging the difficulty of predicting the future through a special election.
“A swing of this magnitude is not something that can be dismissed,” Desantis wrote. “Republicans should be clear-eyed about the political environment heading into the midterms.”
Notably, Trump distanced himself from the race while speaking with reporters at Mar-A-Lago on Sunday. He had previously endorsed Wambsganss and made several posts supporting the candidate on Truth Social in the lead-up to the election
“I’m not involved in that. That’s a local Texas race,” Trump told reporters.
Democratic lawmakers and candidates were not as inclined to downplay the victory. On Facebook, Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar congratulated Rehmet. California Gov. Gavin Newsom simply wrote “LFG” in response to an X post mentioning the victory.
Both Texas Democratic Senate candidates expressed hope for November after the election.
On X, Rep. Jasmine Crockett wrote: “Don’t tell us what can’t be done in Texas. When we show up #TexasTough, we change the game. This is a seat no Democrat has held since the 80s, and today we proved what we’ve known all along: Texas is in play, and don’t count us out.”
Her opponent, state Rep. James Talarico, said something similar to an ABC News anchor Monday morning.
“It shows there’s something happening in the state of Texas,” Talarico said. “As I travel across the state, I see a backlash growing to the extremism and corruption in our government. I think you’re going to see, in November, us win this senate seat, and you’re going to see us take back our country, which we desperately need now more than ever.”
Is the Tide Turning?
However, not all observers have been in such a rush to declare the election a bellwether for November. Ben Voth, an associate professor of rhetoric and director of debate and speech programs at Southern Methodist University, says while the result is “significant,” he doesn’t see a blue wave forming just yet.
“It was a little bit unusual, even to other special elections,” Voth said. “And so I’m not sure it’s completely earth-shattering, like as if all the Republicans have switched over to be Democrats. I think there’s some analysis out there that kind of implies that. I don’t think that’s quite it.”
Voth said the November 2025 election may have fractured GOP support in Tarrant County, as Republican voters who backed another candidate, John Huffman, likely grew disillusioned after his third-place finish. He also pointed to recent organizational issues in the Tarrant County Republican Party and poor Election Day weather as other potential reasons for low voter turnout.
Only 94,880 votes were cast in the election, representing just over 15% of registered voters in the district, according to data from the Tarrant County Elections Department. In contrast, close to 120,000 votes were cast in the November election, in which Rehmet won 47.57% of the vote.
The result, Voth said, suggests the minority party will make some gains this November, as is typical of most recent U.S. election cycles — it just won’t be a clean sweep.
“It’s kind of what I would call a 2018 pattern, where the Democrats flip the House,” Voth said. “But it’s not like a massive tidal wave or something like that. That, to me, still doesn’t seem to be indicated.”
