Tarrant County state Senate seat back in the spotlight months after surprise upset
Tarrant County is maintaining its battleground status ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, and it's not just statewide races receiving national attention. The largest Republican county in the U.S. also features competitive local races farther down the ballot.
One we will be keeping close watch of is for Texas state Senate District 9, which includes Fort Worth and other parts of the county.
The race between Democratic state Sen. Taylor Rehmet, the incumbent, Republican Leigh Wambsganss is a rematch of the special election to fill the seat, which happened on Jan. 31. In a major upset, Rehmet won 57% to 43%, the first time a Democrat won the seat since 1992.
The result received national attention as an early indication of Democratic enthusiasm more than 10 months before Election Day. That has since borne out in the polls, with Democratic candidates running ahead or neck-and-neck in Republican-leaning states, from Iowa to Ohio to, of course, Texas.
This week, CBS News Texas political reporter Jack Fink sat down with both Rehmet and Wambsganss for "Eye On Politics" to discuss the state of the race.
The following selections from their discussions have been lightly edited for clarity.
Jack Fink: Why should Texans in this district reelect you?
State Sen. Taylor Rehmet (D-Tarrant County): I think Texans should reelect me because I'm someone who knows what it's like to not be able to pay a medical bill or be worried about a flat tire or any kind of inconvenience. And we're facing extreme affordability issues. And I've recently announced my at Texas You can Afford agenda, which covers stuff going from affordability, education and health care costs.
Fink: And what specifically when you're talking about health care? You mentioned that first, so talk to me about that.
Rehmet: So there's pharmacy benefit managers, PBMs, and we need to make sure that they have a fiduciary duty to the folks that need this medication.
Fink: And so when you're talking about that, what legislation do you have in mind? Because they're often seen as the middleman. So talk to me about what legislation you would have in mind to, I would imagine, lower the costs.
Rehmet: Absolutely. Well, it would just be making sure that these PBMs have a fiduciary duty to the folks that purchase the medications, not the suppliers that want to jack up the prices.
Fink: And when you talk about education, what did you have in mind?
Rehmet: So what I have in mind is the, state historically used to pay more of the share of cost for each school district, and I want to see the state come in and give property tax owners a relief by paying a higher share. We have the revenue to do it. We're the eighth largest economy in the world. It's time we pay and invest in our education, so we can lower local property taxes sustainably for the foreseeable future.
Fink: Data centers are another big issue. Where do you come out on that?
Rehmet: They have come into our state, they have not built their data centers in a way that respects our our water, our energy and our local population's voice. So we're still on the subject of local control here. I want to make sure that people can reject or accept a data center if they so choose. But it's hard to in Texas because we have to make sure that we're empowering that local government, like we just talked about, to be able to either increase the restrictions on them and how they're built, whether they're using a closed loop water system or whether they're using lower energy. And we need to create guiderails at the state level, but make sure that the municipalities can reject such a project and it won't be forced through and built right in people's backyards.
Fink: Let's talk about the campaign itself. Obviously you made national news earlier this year because of the special election. And so how confident are you that you will be able to win again?
Rehmet: Well, I'm confident because I feel like I've started this campaign authentically in a Texan way. I hire Texans, I don't have any DC consultants. I don't have anything other than Texas-based businesses that are involved with, for instance, for doing my signs and the staff that I hire. And so I think that's very organic, and it speaks to the community that I want to continue to help. And when I have the community behind me, I feel very great that I can get reelected and continue to serve as a state senator for District 9.
Fink: If history plays out and there is a Republican majority in the legislature again, the state Senate, for example, where you hope to be, how are you going to work with Republicans and the majority to get legislation passed that you want?
Rehmet: Well, I will work with them just like I've worked with anyone. I'm a collaborator. I want to make sure that I'm focused on Texas and making Texas as great as it should be, and I will work across the aisle for that. That's not a problem at all. I've already talked with other senators just giving them a call, talking with them, and I know some of their priorities and some of them do align. So I just, again, I want to be a collaborator. I want to make sure that we're all able to have a good and honest conversation about what's best for working Texans.
Jack Fink: What are your top priorities if you're elected?
Leigh Wambsganss, Republican nominee for state Senate District 9: My No. 1 thing is keeping government out of people's lives. Part of that is not taxing them to death. Part of that is making sure we are creating a good workforce for the future. That includes industry, that includes job training, that includes apprenticeships, fully funding all of our public schools, but also supporting, we have a lot of different public schools. We have charter public schools. As a mom of two boys that are now in college, I had kids with very different learning styles. They had different learning needs. And so the kids across Texas, they need our priorities to make sure they are prepared for the future.
Fink: You mentioned fully funding Texas schools K through 12. That means different things to different people. So what is your definition of that?
Wambsganss: So the last legislative session, which I wasn't in, increased public school funding by $8.5 billion. One of the things that I worked on is making sure teachers get to the classroom.
Fink: Let me ask you about just affordability in general. It's a big issue, obviously, for this midterm election. And so do you have any proposals, any legislative ideas that would help on that front?
Wambsganss: Affordability includes getting our property taxes down. We have dueling plans on that. And I say let's get to Austin, throw it all on the table and do what's best for Texans. Because people, I think it's immoral to tax people out of their homes.
Fink: So that's your big focus.
Wambsganss: Property tax is a big focus. That's generally one of the biggest costs to families.
Fink: Let me ask you about data centers because that is a huge issue. It's really mushroomed into this large issue, particularly in rural areas and even suburban areas, as you know. So where are you on this?
Wambsganss: Repeal all of the data center tax incentives. They they're doing fine. They can afford to not have those tax incentives, and those tax dollars will go into the local communities. But there are some other things we need to look at. The setbacks that the governor mentioned in his memo about data centers. What that means is local communities should have a say in how close data centers are to homes and businesses. We need to require closed loop water systems because we do need to protect our resources here in the state of Texas. And ... I've worked on grid bills since 2015, just as a volunteer, and the the energy use, one of the things in the governor's memo he put out was the current applications well exceed our state's max capacity for providing electricity. So we obviously have to figure out how we can coincide. They should not raise our citizens' electricity bills, but we're requiring them to create their own electric generation. And I think I think that's a win-win.
Fink: You obviously want to change the outcome from the special election and you want to win this seat. It's a tough environment for Republicans nationally right now, right? You've got high fuel prices. You've got high gas prices. People are not happy about this. And so I'm wondering how much of a challenge is that presenting to you while you're out on the campaign trail?
Wambsganss: I think it's a challenge for every candidate, especially Republicans in Texas are seeing what's been happening. They saw my race. They saw what happened in the primaries with more Democrats in the state voting than Republicans. No Republican is taking this race for granted. I have seen more unity with the Republican candidates than I have seen in my 30 years of just being a political activist. And even right here at home in Tarrant County, the state reps, the state senators that aren't up for reelection are helping all the candidates. People are really coming together on our side. People are working very hard. There's no grass growing under our feet. Our campaign has already walked 40,000 houses. We will walk 40,000 more.
Fink: Are you finding that when you are just talking to Republicans, whether they're MAGA conservatives and those who are a little bit more establishment-oriented?
Wambsganss: We have, and part of the reason for that is, is we have seen the extremes on the other side, you know, the the leftist playbook right now is to all appear moderate. We all know because we have voting records that they are not moderate at all, that they are far-left extremists.
