FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: Sunday, February 1, 2026
Contact: [email protected]
Run for Something Statement on Taylor Rehmet’s Ground-Breaking Red-to-Blue Flip in Texas
NEW YORK — Yesterday, voters elected Run for Something-endorsed candidate Taylor Rehmet to represent District 9 in the Texas State Senate. Rehmet secured 57% of the vote, roughly 14 points more than his GOP opponent, in a district that Donald Trump won by 17 points in 2024. This victory flips a seat that was considered safely red, providing a telling bellwether for the midterms and more proof that voters across the country are showing up for candidates who understand their communities and are willing to fight for them.
“This victory shows that every seat is winnable with a candidate deeply embedded in their community who runs on the issues they know firsthand matter most to their voters,” said Amanda Litman, co-founder and president of Run for Something. “Taylor Rehmet’s campaign centered on making people’s lives better and ensuring that Senate District 9 is a place where working families can thrive — and that’s exactly what helped him flip a district Trump won by 17 points. We’re thrilled to see Taylor win this seat and proud to have endorsed him in this race.”
Rehmet’s victory comes after he pulled off a major upset in November when he came within striking distance of winning the race outright, pushing it to a runoff. An Air Force veteran, life-long Texan, union president, and unapologetic champion for working people, Rehmet ran on a platform that included affordability, housing, and public education. His win comes despite Republicans sinking millions of dollars funded by billionaires and conservative groups into the race. Rehmet’s campaign was funded primarily by small donors.
Run for Something endorsed almost a dozen candidates last year in Texas, expanding a bench of young, diverse local leaders we have spent years cultivating. Senate District 9 includes parts of Fort Worth, where RFS has previously endorsed half a dozen candidates for municipal offices. RFS has invested deeply in Texas over the years, laying the groundwork for this moment and supporting rising stars in the Democratic Party, such as State Rep. James Talarico, Rep. Jasmine Crockett, and Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee, who was elected to U.S. Congress last night in another special election runoff.
Rehmet’s win follows sweeping wins by Run for Something candidates across the country during the 2025 election. All told, 65% of Run for Something’s candidates on the ballot in November won their races, our organization’s highest win rate ever. Of those, 43 flipped seats from red to blue. Run for Something’s pipeline is now over 250,000 people strong, including nearly 80,000 who have signed up since Trump was elected in November 2024.
Texas will continue to be an important region for Run for Something in the years ahead. In October, RFS announced a new $50 million, five-year-long initiative to help Democrats build durable local power and prepare multiple paths to victory. Texas, a state that Democrats have historically neglected, is key to the plan.
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Run for Something (RFS) recruits and supports young progressive candidates running for state and local offices. Since its founding, RFS has helped elect over 1,600 candidates across the country, including 43 candidates in red-to-blue seats in the 2025 election cycle. Today, RFS has the largest database of any other Democratic organization, with nearly 80,000 people reaching out since last November with interest in running for office.