In an upset that rattled Republicans in Texas and beyond, a Democrat decisively won a state legislative special election on Saturday in a district around Fort Worth that President Trump carried by more than 17 percentage points just over a year ago.
The Democrat, Taylor Rehmet, a local union leader and first-time candidate, defeated the Republican, Leigh Wambsganss, by double digits — 57 to 43 — in the historically conservative district.
The contest to fill a State Senate seat had been closely followed by national leaders from both parties as a barometer of potential Republican struggles in this year’s midterm elections.
It attracted outsized attention after Mr. Rehmet, 33, performed far better than expected in the first round of voting in November and ended up in the runoff. Since then, he received a surge of support from Democratic groups, including the Democratic National Committee.
Republican leaders, concerned that a defeat could bring an influx of Democratic investment into Texas races in 2026, tried to rally support for Ms. Wambsganss. She received an endorsement from President Trump and the backing of prominent conservative leaders in Texas, including Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick. The chairman of the Republican National Committee met with Ms. Wambsganss last week.
The unusually timed election attracted low turnout in a district of Tarrant County that includes portions of Fort Worth and its northern suburbs. Mr. Patrick, in the run up to the race, pleaded with Republicans to vote in the special election, which fell on a Saturday. Mr. Trump also urged voters to vote in a social media post on Friday.
“You can win this election for Leigh, who has my complete and total endorsement,” Mr. Trump wrote.
Ms. Wambsganss, a first-time political candidate and a longtime conservative activist, had helped propel a social conservative takeover of several school boards in and around the district in 2022. But last year, more moderate candidates ousted many social conservatives from the boards, suggesting an emerging backlash.
Democrats quickly seized on Mr. Rehmet’s victory as a sign of their growing strength even in deeply red areas of the country.
“In a Trump +17 district, Republicans had to go all out and still lost this race,” Ken Martin, the chair of the Democratic National Committee, said in a statement. “Tonight’s results prove that no Republican seat is safe.”
Some Republicans also saw it as a warning about the future.
“November was always going to be a real battle but tonight should hopefully remind us all that we will be fighting against a force that believes they have to win,” Luke Macias, a conservative activist and Texas political consultant, said in a social media post.
Mr. Rehmet, a machinist at a Lockheed Martin fighter jet plant in Fort Worth, said in an interview with The New York Times during the campaign that he did not like party labels and believed that voters were “really tired of the partisanship.” He made his support for public education, including vocational programs, central to his campaign.
“This win goes to everyday working people,” Mr. Rehmet told supporters on Saturday night. “We will see you out there.”
But he will only be in office through the end of the year, serving out the remainder of the term after State Senator Kelly Hancock stepped down to become the acting state comptroller. Both Mr. Rehmet and Ms. Wambsganss are registered to run in the 2026 election, setting up a rematch for November.
The result in the Fort Worth suburbs overshadowed a congressional race in Houston on Saturday that has frustrated Democrats for months because of Republican efforts to keep the seat — in Texas’s solidly Democratic 18th Congressional district — vacant for as long as possible.
Christian Menefee, 37, an outspoken former Harris County attorney, won the special congressional election runoff over a former Houston City Council member, Amanda Edwards, 44, in a showdown between rising young Black Democrats in the district.
The seat has historically been held by prominent Black legislators, including Barbara Jordan and Sheila Jackson Lee. It has been vacant since March, when Representative Sylvester Turner died in office weeks after being sworn in.
Rather than quickly call a special election in the deep blue district around downtown Houston, Governor Abbott, a Republican, set the election for November, leaving the seat empty and helping Republicans in U.S. Congress pad their slim majority. The first round of voting attracted more than a dozen candidates, with Mr. Menefee and Ms. Edwards ending up in the runoff.
Saturday’s result means that Mr. Menefee will serve out the remainder of Mr. Turner’s term in 2026. He campaigned as a fighter — citing his work as county attorney in litigation battles with Texas’s Republican leaders — and vowed to use his position in Congress to hold the Trump administration accountable.
“When I go into Congress I’m going to fight each and every day to impeach Kristi Noem, to tear ICE up from the roots and to fix this country’s broken immigration system,” Mr. Menefee said in a victory speech on Saturday night, referring to the secretary of homeland security.
But even before he can be sworn into Congress, he will have to begin running for re-election in the Democratic primary on March 3. Early voting in that race starts in just over two weeks.
The primary race will not only feature a rematch against Ms. Edwards, but also a formidable challenge from Representative Al Green, a veteran Houston incumbent. Mr. Green was drawn out his district by Republicans during the state’s mid-decade congressional redistricting last year.
Mr. Green’s current district, the 9th Congressional, was moved to the east, to an area that includes a strong majority of Republican voters — one of five districts held by Democrats that Republican state legislators redrew at the behest of President Trump in the hopes of flipping them to Republican control.
The lines of the 18th were redrawn to stretch further to the city’s south — including areas that Mr. Green now represents — and to capture a large number of Democratic voters. The winner of the Democratic primary is likely to go on to win a general election in the redrawn 18th.
J. David Goodman is the Texas bureau chief for The Times, based in Houston.
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