A GOP candidate who lost a Texas election last weekend has blamed her defeat on a low turnout of Republican voters.
Conservative activist Leigh Wambsganss lost out on state Senate District 9 to her Democratic rival Taylor Rehmet, a military veteran and union leader, on Saturday. Rehmet won by more than 14 percentage points, according to The Associated Press.
Speaking on Texas radio program the Mark Davis Show Monday, Wambsganss said: ““Politics is cyclical, and the bottom line is Republicans did not show up.”
Newsweek reached out to the Republican Party of Texas by email on Monday for comment.
Why It Matters
The election took place in a district considered Republican after the previous state senator, Kelly Hancock, stepped down in mid-2025 to become the state’s comptroller. Trump had won the district by 17 points in the November 2024 presidential election.
This sparked concern among some GOP supporters given the November midterm elections are fast approaching. The Republican Party has slim majorities in both chambers of Congress and losing the House or the Senate would upset the balance of power in Congress and make it more difficult for President Donald Trump to carry out his legislative agenda.
What To Know
Some 15 percent of registered voters voted in the election, according to local press. Speaking about why Republicans did not vote, Wambsganss said: “I think one of them is that Republicans think that they don’t need to.
“They think Tarrant County is invincible, and it’s not.”
She also blamed weather conditions on the turnout. “The freeze certainly didn’t help,” she said. “We all know a majority of conservative voters are older, they’re not comfortable driving on this ice and snow and I think it was a problem,” she said.
She added that GOP success isn’t guaranteed in Tarrant County. “God allowed this [election result] because Texas needs a wake-up call,” she said. “If Republicans want to win, they’re going to have to fight for it.”
“This is a really good wake-up for Texas that Texas needed and Republicans have to stop the infighting and move on and do what’s best for keeping Texas conservative and free,” she said.
Rehmet and Wambsganss will face each other again in the November 2026 midterms in bids to win a full four-year term.
Wambsganss said she was “launching an outreach” to connect with conservatives to vote in this election.
“We’ve got to get people to step up and pay attention and we will drive you to the polls, we will call you 100 times,” she said.
What People Are Saying
Calvin Jillson, a politics professor at Southern Methodist University in Texas previously told Newsweek the election results “have left Republicans across the country speechless.”
“Big swings like this, even in a low turnout runoff, are rare and suggest real trouble for Republicans in the coming 2026 midterm elections,” he said.
Democratic National Committee chair Ken Martin said in a statement late on Saturday: “This victory is a warning sign to Republicans across the country. Tonight’s results prove that no Republican seat is safe.”
CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten wrote in a X post Monday: “Texas-9 didn’t just swing to the left on Saturday…It took a rocket ship. GOP should be worried. Why? 1. Dems are now outperforming Harris’ 2024 baseline by 12 pts in the avg. special. 2. The party that outperforms in specials went on to win the House in the last 5 midterms.”
What Happens Next
Midterm elections will take place across the country in November.
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