Democrat Taylor Rehmet captured a Texas State Senate seat in a weekend special election, flipping a district in Tarrant County — one of the nation’s largest Republican counties — that President Trump had carried by 17 points in 2024. Rehmet won by roughly 14 points, producing about a 31-point swing in the heavily Republican area that includes Fort Worth.
Rehmet, a working-class candidate who once held a union factory job, made affordability and the cost of living the center of his campaign. “I’m a working person myself. I know firsthand how this economy is really making things tough for people. There’s people out here in my senate district that are choosing between their cancer treatment and their food or rent,” he said after the victory. He ran as a centrist and deliberately avoided “culture war” issues, messaging that resonated with voters across party lines.
His Republican opponent had been endorsed by President Trump and by Texas’s governor, yet Rehmet won by a double-digit margin. CBS News Political Director Fin Gomez said affordability — particularly concerns about healthcare, housing and day-to-day costs — was the decisive issue. Gomez noted Rehmet emphasized his working-class background and union experience, and that Democrats had won other races on similar economic themes in 2025.
The result has drawn national attention because of the district’s recent Republican strength: Trump’s 17-point win in 2024 contrasted sharply with Rehmet’s 14-point victory. Democrats argue the outcome offers a blueprint for winning other contests in Texas by focusing on bread-and-butter issues. They also see signs of Latino and independent voters shifting back toward Democrats, which could matter in the upcoming U.S. Senate race and in congressional contests redrawn by Texas Republicans.
Republicans downplayed the long-term significance, describing the race as an outlier. Party officials pointed to turnout issues, weather and the need to improve voter mobilization. There was internal finger-pointing after the loss, and Republican leaders described the result as a wake-up call. Observers noted that while the win energized Democrats, Texas remains a Republican-leaning state overall: Trump beat Kamala Harris by about 14 points in 2024, and no Democrat has won a statewide race in Texas since 1994.
Republicans said they would regroup and focus on turnout and messaging; Democrats said the victory showed how an affordability-focused, working-class, centrist approach can succeed even in red districts.
