Reuters: A Democratic candidate won a special election for the Texas state senate by a double-digit margin, taking control from Republicans for the first time in decades in a result the losing candidate on Sunday called “a wake-up call” for the midterm elections.
The victory for a seat vacated by a four-term Republican followed a string of wins in recent months for the Democratic Party in local and state elections across the country, offering hope for national Democrats looking to claw back power later this year…
New York Times: 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…
CNN: The race was important enough to earn the involvement of the national committees, top statewide Republicans and even Trump.
Trump posted three times about the race in recent days, in clear hopes of juicing Election-Day turnout for Republicans.
But it didn’t work. In fact, in a pretty rare occurrence these days, Democrats actually did better on special Election Day than in early voting. While Rehmet won early voting 56-44, he won day-of voting 58-42, according to results from Tarrant County.
Trump’s call clearly wasn’t heeded…
The Guardian: His victory added to Democrats’ record of overperforming in special elections so far this cycle. Democrats said it was further evidence that voters under the second Trump administration are motivated to reject GOP candidates and their policies…
Texas Monthly: Legislatively, the victory is essentially meaningless: Rehmet will serve out the remaining eleven months of the term of Kelly Hancock, who resigned last year after he was appointed acting Texas comptroller by Governor Greg Abbott, but the Legislature will not convene again before Rehmet will have to run for the seat again, against Wambsganss in the November general election.
But symbolically, it is stunning—the political equivalent, even some conservatives have acknowledged, of a 9.5 Richter scale earthquake. For most of this century, the northern Tarrant County suburbs have been a crucial hub of the state’s far right…