FINAL: Democrat Rehmet posts rare win in runoff for State Senate District 9

Updated 11:43 p.m., Jan. 31

Democrat Taylor Rehmet will replace Kelly Hancock after winning a special election for State Senate District 9.

According to unofficial results in Tarrant County, Rehmet received 54,267 votes, or 57.20%, during the special runoff election that concluded Jan. 31 with 129 out of 129 precincts reporting.

Republican Leigh Wambsganss secured 40,598 votes, or 42.80%. Nearly 95,000 votes were cast, or 15.37% of registered voters, for the cities in District 9.

According to previous election data on the county website, a Republican has won this spot in every race since 1996. The county's online record database does not go further back than 1996.

Republicans received 51.9% of the votes in November, but split the votes between two candidates. In the rematch, Rehmet secured nearly 10%percentage points more than he did in November.

The special election will fill Hancock's previous position through the end of the year. Rehmet can seek re-election in November.

All results are unofficial until canvassed.

Updated 11:10 p.m., Jan. 31

Nearly all of the precincts are reporting during the latest update.

Democrat Taylor Rehmet now has 54,228 votes, or 57.20%, and has more than a 14% lead with 123 of 129 precincts reporting. Republican Leigh Wambsganss has 40,570 votes, or 42.80%.

Overall, just under 95,000 votes have been cast, or 15.36% of registered voters. The November election, which led to this runoff, had 16.49% voter turnout.

Updated 10:02 p.m., Jan. 31

Tarrant County Election Administration's latest update shows 28 of the 129 precincts reporting and the lead for Taylor Rehmet remains in the lead with more than 56% of the votes.

Rehmet has 30,661 votes, or 56.61%, up from 56.47% in the first update after early voting. Leigh Wambsganss has received 23,503 votes, or 43.39%.

The latest update shows that a little more than 9,000 votes have been cast on election day, with Rehmet holding the advantage in that category as well.

What's next?

Community Impact will update this article as more election day vote totals are released. All results are unofficial until canvassed.

Updated 9:07 p.m., Jan. 31

Taylor Rehmet maintains a lead after seven of 129 precincts have been uploaded by the Tarrant County Election Administration.

The Democrat has 27,999 votes, or 56.47%, a slight bump in his advantage compared to early voting results. Republican Leigh Wambsganss has received 21,085 votes, or 43.58%.

An updated total shows 48,408 votes, or 7.84% of registered voters have participated in the special election.

Posted 7:15 p.m. Jan. 31

The final day of the runoff election in Senate District 9 will determine the winner between Taylor Rehmet and Leigh Wambsganss.

After early voting results were released by the Tarrant County Election Administration Jan. 31, Rehmet leads with 25,667 votes, or 56.23%.

Wambsganss has garnered 19,979 votes, or 43.77%.

According to the county website, the voter turnout is at 7.39% with 45,669 votes cast out of 617,753 registered voters. All results are unofficial until canvassed.

Wait times at election day voting sites were between 15 and 45 minutes around 5 p.m., according to the county website.

Senate District 9 includes Southlake, Westlake, Keller, Hurst, North Richland Hills, Watauga, Haltom City, Richland Hills, Haslet, Fort Worth, Saginaw, Blue Mound, Lake Worth, Azle, Benbrook, Bedford, Pelican Bay, Euless, Haltom City, Lake Worth, White Settlement, Sansom Park, Westover Hills and River Oaks.

During the Nov. 4 election, neither candidate garnered more than 50% of the vote needed to win the race and fill the spot vacated this past summer by Sen. Kelly Hancock.

The background

Rehmet, a Democrat, got 56,506 votes, or 47.56%, during the Nov. 4 election, according to previous reporting.

Two Republicans split votes during the race. Wambsganss got 47,712 votes, or 35.59%, while former Southlake Mayor John Huffman received 19,591 votes, or 16.49%.

The details

Rehmet is an Air Force veteran and now an aircraft mechanic, according to previous reporting. Wambsganss is the chief communications officer for Patriot Mobile and a former owner of a real estate company.Posted 7:30 p.m. Nov. 7