Dem
47
GOP
53
On Saturday, there was a special election for a vacant state Senate seat in Texas. The election, in SD-9, was semi-pointless since the winner gets to serve only until Jan. 2027—and the Texas legislature will not be in session in 2026 because it meets only in odd-numbered years. So the winner doesn't get to do any legislating, but does get to collect the cushy $7,200 annual salary. Pro-rated, of course.
For an easy $7,200 and no work, the seat was naturally hotly contested. Air Force veteran and union leader Taylor Rehmet (D) battled Trump-endorsed conservative activist Leigh Wambsganss (R) in the Fort Worth-area district. Trump really backed her, posting three bleats to his social-network-site-for-sheep in support of Wambsganss. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R-TX) campaigned for her. Wambsganss also had a massive spending advantage over Rehmet. It should have been easy since Trump won the district by 17 points in 2024 and SD-9 is in Tarrant County, one of the largest red counties in the country.
"Should have" is not the same as "was." Rehmet won 57.2% to 42.8%, a 32-point shift toward the Democrats since 2024 in a deep red county. This is the biggest swing of any special election this cycle. Look:
The average swing has been 17 points. Needless to say, if the Democrats can outperform their 2024 numbers by 17 points in November, there will be blood on the floor, and it will all be red. However, special elections for state legislative seats are low-turnout wonky affairs and one shouldn't put too much faith in them.
Now Wambsganss will have to go back to her day job of being the communications officer at Patriot Mobile, the only Christian conservative wireless provider in the country. And boy can she ever communicate! The main page of the company's site has a video running in a loop. It has clips of soldiers, police officers, fire fighters, and multiple clips of people shooting guns—exactly the kind of information you need when picking a mobile provider. Its stated mission is: "to passionately defend our God-given rights and freedoms, and to glorify God always." The company is apparently so busy communicating with God wirelessly at very high frequencies that it doesn't have time for more earthly matters like protecting customer data from being stolen by hackers. For potential customers who are worried before signing up, there is a FAQ to reassure people, with answers to tough questions like: "How do I know my money isn't going to woke causes since you are on the same towers as the large carriers?" (V)