This could, and hopefully will, be interesting.
Gov. Greg Abbott on Friday set a special election for Nov. 4 to fill the Texas Senate seat vacated by Republican Kelly Hancock, who resigned from the Legislature earlier this month to become the acting state comptroller.
The contest coincides with the state’s November uniform election, when voters across Texas will already be at the polls to elect representation for local offices and vote on numerous ballot measures, including 17 proposed amendments to the Texas Constitution.
The candidate filing deadline for the Senate District 9 special election is Sept. 3, with early voting to start Oct. 20.
Earlier Friday, conservative activist Leigh Wambsganss announced her candidacy to fill the vacant seat. Shortly after her announcement, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, the president of the Senate, endorsed Wambsganss, saying she would be a “great addition to our conservative Texas Senate.”
[…]
Soon after Wambsganss’s announcement, Rep. Nate Schatzline, R-Fort Worth, withdrew his own bid for the seat and endorsed her.
A Democratic candidate, veteran and union president Taylor Rehmet, is also running for the seat.
See here for the background. Schatzline, who is terrible, got a lot of coverage for his initial announcement. Wambsganss, who is also terrible, got a lot of coverage for hers as well. Most of what I could find from a Google news search on Taylor Rehmet came from the Fort Worth Report.
Taylor Rehmet
Taylor Rehmet, a union machinist and Air Force veteran who describes himself as “a working-class fighter,” is seeking the office as a Democrat.
[…]
Brandon Rottinghaus, a political scientist at the University of Houston, described District 9 as a “pretty conservative district” dominated by Republicans, but said recent demographic and political changes in Tarrant County could provide an opening for Democrats.
[…]
Rehmet, 32, who announced his candidacy June 23, said his campaign will center on a five-point platform including veterans’ rights and services, workers’ rights and union power, affordable housing and tenant protections, fully funded education with vocational pathways, and land and water for future generations.
Rehmet is president of the Texas State Council of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. A campaign launch event will be next month in Austin, coinciding with a statewide labor convention, according to a news release.
He was in the Air Force from 2012 to 2016 as a mechanic on B-52 bombers.
Rehmet told the Report he’s been active in running large organizations but said this is his first political undertaking.
“This is just the next step in being able to serve others,” he told the Report. “I’ve never run before because I wanted to make sure I’m ready. I take serving others seriously.”
In 2022, Hancock won his last four-year term with more than 60% of the vote to Democrat Gwenn Burud’s almost 40%.
Rehmet’s website is here, and you can find a lot more about him at Lone Star Left. SD09 has been on the outer fringes of competitiveness in recent years. Hancock won it by a scant eight points in 2018, also against Gwenn Burud, who as far as I can tell has never raised much money or gotten much attention. If Rehmet can do better on those things, if Donald Trump’s approval and favorability can decline a bit more, if Tarrant County’s wretched Republican Party Chair can keep on alienating everyone, well, who knows. This will never not be a longshot, but it could be the kind of longshot that has a chance. I’ll be on the lookout for his finance reports.