Republicans woke up Sunday in a panic.

On Saturday night, Democrats pulled off a game-changing upset in Texas. Democratic candidate Taylor Rehmet flipped a Trump +17 district by 14 points, a roughly 32-point swing toward Democrats. This is the latest sign that Democrats have the momentum, and even ruby red seats are in play this year.

Ahead of Election Day, the DNC supported Rehmet by increasing our funding for states like Texas, leveraging our distributed organizing program to help recruit local volunteers, and reaching more voters with GOTV texts in the final stretch of the campaign.

Democrats have now flipped 26 state legislative seats since Trump retook office, while Republicans have flipped zero. In total, Democrats have now won or overperformed in 240 of 269 key elections in 2025 and 2026. Democrats are currently winning elections at a faster clip than we were ahead of sweeping 2018 midterm victories. 

Here are some of the key takeaways from Saturday’s win:

1. Massive GOP spending advantage could not make up for the unpopularity of Trump and his agenda.

The Republican candidate, Leigh Wambsganss, spent a whopping $736,000 while Rehmet had to spend only $70,000. However, this major cash advantage was not enough to make up for the deep unpopularity of Trump, Republicans, and their agenda, which dragged down the Republican candidate by double digits in a ruby-red seat. Across the primary and general, the race’s two Republican candidates outspent Rehmet by around $2 million.

2. Independents and some Republicans voted for Rehmet.

Republicans have held this seat for decades, and the former incumbent glided to reelection multiple times. The fact that Rehmet won this Trump +17 district with 57% of the vote shows that he did not just earn Democratic votes, but likely also won over a meaningful number of independents and Republicans. Early voting data suggests that 51% of voters had voted in a Republican primary in the past, yet Rehmet, a Democrat, won the race with 57% of the vote. 

3. Latino voters are souring on Republicans.

As Trump’s extreme and violent immigration enforcement regime faces wide backlash and the cost of living continues to increase, Latino voters swung toward Rehmet in a district where more than 1 in 4 voters in the district are Latino. By one analysis, Rehmet overperformed the top of the 2024 ticket by more than 50 points in some of the largely Hispanic areas of Fort Worth. 

4. SD-09 is larger than Texas congressional districts.

In Texas, there are fewer state senate districts than congressional districts (31 vs. 38), making SD-09 larger than every congressional district in the state. There are nearly 1 million people in this district — so while this was a state senate race, the size of the district means Rehmet’s victory has national implications for the midterms. 

5. Trump threw his support behind the GOP candidate – and it backfired.

After Republicans’ embarrassing defeat, Trump tried to claim he was not involved in the race, saying, “I have nothing to do with it.” However, in the two days ahead of Election Day, Trump posted three times in support of the Republican candidate, including a “complete and total endorsement” of her. Trump also endorsed Wambsganss in the primary. This is a warning sign to Susie Wiles, who is sending Trump on the campaign trail to stump for GOP candidates ahead of the midterms — he may not be welcome. 

As we head into 2026, Democrats clearly have the momentum. The DNC will continue to organize everywhere, including in Texas, as we go on offense.