![\"Candidate](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/eph_3-980x551.png\")
<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
AUSTIN, Tx., February 2, 2026: Two Texas elections on Saturday suggests that Democrats are reaching Texas voters. As election results were being counted on Saturday, Texas Republicans were wondering if this is a preview of the upcoming midterms across Texas.<\/p>\n
Christian Menefee and Taylor Rehmet won special elections on Saturday.<\/p>\n Menefee won the special election for the Texas 18th Congressional District, increasing the number of the Democratic Party-controlled seats at the House to 214, just shy of the 218 seats controlled by the Republicans. This leaves the Republicans with only a one seat cushion on future legislation, including the vote<\/a> to end the latest federal government shutdown.<\/p>\n The special election was called after Sylvester Turner (D-TX-18) died last year, who was elected to replace Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX-18) who also died leaving the seat vacant. Among Menefee\u2019s endorsements<\/a> included Beto O\u2019Rourke.<\/p>\n Menefee\u2019s term ends in January 2027 and he faces another election against Amanda Edwards, who he defeated on Saturday, and Al Green in the March 3 primaries.<\/p>\n Menefee\u2019s election was expected in the Democratic controlled district in Houston. It is the Rehmet win for the Texas State Senate District 9 seat on Saturday that has concerned Republicans for the upcoming mid-term elections.<\/p>\n He flipped a reliable Republic district on Saturday. According to Fox News reporting<\/a> yesterday morning, Democratic National Committee Chairman Ken Martin said that Rehmet\u2019s win is \u201ca warning sign to Republicans across the country.\u201d<\/p>\n Rehmet must defeat Leigh Wambsganss a second time in November to keep his seat past January 2027. Wambsganss is known<\/a> for her activism that brought Christian nationalism to schools in Fort Worth. Christian nationalists believe<\/a> that the United States was founded on Christian values and is a Christian nation.<\/p>\n Although Rehmet was outspent heavily by Wambsganss, he defeated her with almost 60% of the vote, according to early results.<\/p>\n In both the Menefee and Rehmet special elections, turnout was lower than expected. Both candidates must run again for reelection this year.<\/p>\n Cover picture credit: Taylor Rehmet on the left and Christian Menefee on the right. Candidate campaign photographs.<\/p>\n Like Us and Follow Us On Our Social Media!<\/p>\n Visited 15 times, 15 visit(s) today<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AUSTIN, Tx., February 2, 2026: Two Texas elections on Saturday suggests that Democrats are reaching Texas voters. As…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":147382,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[11346,7835,6505,4952,138,140,139,146,11571,61458,13184,11572],"class_list":{"0":"post-147381","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-el-paso","8":"tag-al-green","9":"tag-amanda-edwards","10":"tag-beto-orourke","11":"tag-christian-menefee","12":"tag-el-paso","13":"tag-el-paso-headlines","14":"tag-el-paso-news","15":"tag-federal-government-shutdown","16":"tag-leigh-wambsganss","17":"tag-sheila-jackson","18":"tag-sylvester-turner","19":"tag-taylor-rehmet"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147381","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=147381"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147381\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/147382"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=147381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=147381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=147381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/civis_polls_1.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\n