How Republicans are responding to a Democrat winning a Texas election

Republican leaders are responding to their party’s surprising loss in a special election in Texas over the weekend. Democrat Taylor Rehmet won a Texas state Senate seat on Saturday night, flipping a traditionally Republican district that President Donald Trump won by 17 points in 2024.

Why It Matters

Democrats see the win, which follows other recent victories in special elections, as more evidence that voters are unhappy with Republican policies—and a good sign for their chances of gaining more seats in Congress in the midterm elections later this year.

What to Know

Rehmet, a veteran and labor union leader, beat Republican Leigh Wambsganss, a conservative activist, in Texas Senate District 9, which includes the Fort Worth area. The seat was made vacant by Republican Kelly Hancock leaving to become that state’s acting comptroller.

Trump had urged voters to support Wambsganss, writing on Truth Social that she was “an incredible supporter” of the Make America Great Again movement.

On Sunday, after the loss, when asked about it by a reporter at Mar-a-Lago, Trump replied, “I don’t know. I didn’t hear about it.” After being given more specifics, he said, “I’m not involved in that. That’s a local Texas race.”

Ron DeSantis, the Republican governor of Florida, warned about the loss in an X post on Sunday.

“Special elections are quirky and not necessarily projectable re: a general election,” he wrote. “That said, a swing of this magnitude is not something that can be dismissed. Republicans should be clear-eyed about the political environment heading into the midterms.”

When an X user noted the election took place during bad weather and “should have been rescheduled,” DeSantis replied, “Ok but that affected everyone, not just Republicans.”

Pete Sessions, a Republican who represents Texas in the House, also noted the weather, describing a “huge snowstorm, ice storm, really, that hit North Texas and Central Texas.” But, he said of his party, “we need to better,” adding, “You should not lose any election in North Texas like this.”

What People Are Saying

Rep. Jasmine Crockett, a Texas Democrat, on X: “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. This isn’t the finish line — it’s only the beginning. The momentum is here, and it’s only growing stronger.”

Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, a Republican, on X: “The results from SD 9 are a wake-up call for Republicans across Texas. Our voters cannot take anything for granted. 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.”

Texas Democratic Party Chair Kendall Scudder said in a statement: “This win shows what is possible in Texas with strong organizing, great candidates and strategic investments. People are noticing that Democrats have the workers’ backs and are delivering results.”

Ross Hunt, a Republican strategist in Dallas, on X. “At the end of the day, the explanation for happened last night was NOT that Democrats won TX SD-9 because of increased Dem enthusiasm. Rather, it was that Republicans LOST it because of the failure to persuade swing Republicans and right-leaning independents.”