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North Texas voters will decide between two Republicans and a Democrat in a special election Tuesday to fill a state Senate seat vacated by Acting Comptroller Kelly Hancock.
Hancock resigned from the Tarrant County-based district in June to become the interim head of the state’s budget and tax collecting agency.
The winner of the special election will serve out the rest of Hancock’s Senate term through the end of 2026. If none of the three candidates wins a majority of votes Tuesday, the contest will be decided by a runoff between the top two finishers.
The two Republican candidates vying to represent the solidly red district are former Southlake Mayor John Huffman and conservative activist Leigh Wambsganss. Taylor Rehmet, a union leader, machinist and Air Force veteran, is running a long-shot bid as a Democrat.
The district, which covers about half of Fort Worth and much of Tarrant County’s northern suburbs, voted for President Donald Trump by over 17 percentage points last year. If a Republican wins the seat, as expected, the state Senate will break down to 19 Republicans and 11 Democrats, with another vacant seat in a dark-red district based in Conroe to be filled in May.
The race has primarily pitted Huffman and Wambsganss against each other, with both touting their experience in conservative politics and commitment to reining in property taxes. Despite their similar positions on the top issues in GOP politics, Huffman has occupied the more establishment lane in the race, drawing support from newspapers and moderate elected officials, while Wambsganss has won support from figures on the rightmost end of the party.
Wambsganss, a former congressional staffer and longtime conservative activist on the Tarrant County GOP Executive Committee, led Huffman in major endorsements, with Trump, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, Tarrant County Judge Tim O’Hare, West Texas billionaire and Christian nationalist Tim Dunn’s PAC and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick — the president and power broker of the state Senate — all in her corner.
Wambsganss serves as the chief communications officer at Patriot Mobile, a Christian conservative wireless provider. The company’s PAC, Patriot Mobile Action, led the charge under Wambsganss’s leadership to elect conservative candidates to several North Texas school boards in 2022, making national waves.
“I have spent my entire adult life as a volunteer public servant, not for a title, but out of conviction,” Wambsganss said in her campaign announcement. “My mission has always been clear: to defend conservative Christian family values, safeguard our freedoms and ensure Texas remains a stronghold for faith, family and freedom.”
Huffman has leaned into his governing experience as a former Southlake City Council member and mayor. His top priorities include property taxes, education and funding for law enforcement and first responders, he said in a statement to The Tribune.
“What sets me apart from my opponents is that I’ve done the job. I’ve lowered taxes, balanced budgets and defended law enforcement when others stayed silent,” Huffman said. “Voters aren’t talking about online noise or political sideshows. They’re talking about the cost of living, the pressure of rising taxes, and the kind of Texas their kids will inherit. The attacks and distractions we’ve seen only prove that some candidates don’t have a plan to address those challenges.”
Huffman was endorsed by Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker, the Fort Worth Police Officers Association, the editorial boards of the Dallas Morning News and Fort Worth Star-Telegram — and billionaire casino tycoon Miriam Adelson, whose pro-gambling groups have poured over $2.7 million into the race in Huffman’s favor. The funding has given Huffman a financial advantage over Wambsganss and turned the off-year race into an unusually expensive affair.
Wambsganss’s campaign blasted the Adelson contributions to Huffman’s campaign, calling them an “affront to the very concept of democracy.”
“Naked ambition!” Wambsganss campaign adviser Allen Blakemore said in a statement. “John Huffman has revealed himself.”
Wambsganss told CBS News Texas that she opposed legalizing casinos in the state, aligning herself with Patrick, who has shot down all efforts to bring the gambling industry to Texas.
Huffman, on the other hand, said he’d support letting Texas voters decide via a statewide ballot initiative whether to issue a limited number of licenses to large casinos.
The race also grew tense when Wambsganss and Patrick accused Huffman’s campaign of altering an image of her in campaign materials, turning her cross necklace upside down.
“This is demonic!” Wambsganss posted on social media. “This is not a political battle – it’s a spiritual one.”
Patrick added: “I’ve never seen a campaign do anything this despicable and disgraceful.”
Huffman’s campaign has denied any involvement in altering the image.
Rehmet, meanwhile, has focused his campaign on kitchen-table issues and working-class interests.
“You can’t feed your family or pay your mortgage with partisanship,” he said in a statement. “After thirty years of empty promises and culture wars, voters in this district are ready for someone who shows up for them, not someone who uses them for a sound bite. The ground is shifting because Texans are tired of extremism and hungry for tangible results.”
If Huffman and Wambsganss split the GOP vote, Rehmet could win a spot in the runoff by consolidating the Democratic votes — though some of that support could also find its way to Huffman, who told the Dallas Morning News editorial board he prefers collaboration over culture war.
The race could be a precursor to next year’s March primary, when voters will pick the nominees for a full, four-year term representing Senate District 9, starting in 2027. GOP pollster Chris Wilson said last week that the primary electorate favors Wambsganss — and the special election “is not the end of the story.”
“If Democrats and independents dominate turnout, they may shape the runoff,” Wilson wrote on social media. “But if GOP voters show up — Leigh wins, now and in March.”