President Trump on North Texas Senate runoff: 'I have nothing to do with it.'

Eleanor Dearman, Fort Worth Star-Telegram on Feb 1, 2026

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President Donald Trump on Sunday said he wasn’t involved in the Texas Senate District 9 race, where a Democrat flipped a historically Republican seat in the Fort Worth-area, despite endorsing the candidate and urging voters to get out to the polls.

Democrat Taylor Rehmet’s defeat of Republican Leigh Wambsganss in the longtime GOP district has garnered national attention, as some look to the race as an indicator of what could be to come in the November midterm elections.

Rehmet, a union leader and aircraft technician at Lockheed Martin, won the Saturday special election runoff with 57.2% of votes in the race against Wambsganss, a Republican activist who works for Christian conservative cell phone company Patriot Mobile. Trump won the Senate district by 17 points in 2024.

In the lead up to the election, Trump posted on Truth Social multiple times voicing support for Wambsganss and urging voters to get out to the polls and vote.

On Sunday, the president said he had “nothing to do” with the Texas election.

“I don’t know. I didn’t hear about it,” Trump said, asked about his reaction to Saturday night’s outcome while speaking to reporters at Mar-a-Lago. “Somebody ran? Where?”

He was then told it was the Senate District 9 election in Texas.

“I’m not involved in that,” Trump said. “That’s a local Texas race.”

He soon continued, “You mean I won by 17, and this person lost? Things like that happen.”

Trump noted that he’s “not on the ballot.”

“So you don’t know whether or not it’s transferable,” he said. “But, you know, you put the Democrats in, and you’ll end up with open borders again. You’ll end up with crime all over the place.”

Trump later added, “No, I don’t know anything about it. ... I mean, I know there’s a race going there, and it’s too bad. What can I say? I have nothing to do with it.”

A spokesperson for Wambsganss did not immediately return a request for comment.

Rehmet’s Saturday victory mean’s he’ll serve the remainder of former Sen. Kelly Hancock’s term. Rehmet and Wambsganss have a rematch in November when they bid for a full four years in office.