New Texas Senate Demicrat Gets Gift
with Dan Patrick's Historic Snubbing
Capitol Inside
March 24, 2026
Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick gave the Texas Legislature's newest member a stage for attention that money couldn't buy when he refused to name Democratic State Senator Taylor Rehmet to a single committee in a new leadership lineup for the upper chamber that he rolled out on Monday.
Rehmet - a union leader from Fort Worth - captured the Senate District 9 seat in a special election runoff on January 31 when he beat Republican Leigh Wambsganss by 14 points with 57 percent of the vote in a swath of Tarrant County where President Donald Trump won by 17 in 2024. Wambsganss has a shot for payback in a rematch in November when she and Rehmet will square off again in the general election.
Patrick was Wambsganss' marquee supporter - having endorsed her when she entered the Senate race before pouring substantial sums of his own donors' money into her campaign for the open seat. Governor Greg Abbott said before the runoff that Rehmet had no chance to win. Patrick and Wambsganss both blamed her defeat as the favorite in the race from the outset on a low turnout among GOP voters who'd taken winning for granted and didn't understand the special contest's significance.
The overtime election in SD 9 actually had the highest overall turnout for a special Senate runoff in the history of the Lone Star State. The runoff vote there was the latest example of how Democrats fare best when turnouts for elections in Texas are high.
Patrick's decision to exclude Rehmet from the Senate committee rosters altogether is unprecedented. The move left Democrats and Republicans alike scratching heads in light of its value as a gift to the new Senate Democrat from which the lieutenant governor appeared to have nothing to gain.
The lieutenant governor sought to stack the reshuffled Senate committees more with Republicans than ever. Patrick gave Democrats only two seats on an Education Committee with eight members, one seat on each of three select committees that Patrick created and only one on the nine-member State Affairs Committee that's the chamber second most powerful standing panel.
Three Democrats - State Senators Sarah Eckhardt of Austin, Roland Gutierrez of San Antonio and Nathan Johnson of Dallas - each only received two committee assignments while GOP colleagues averaged between six and eight seats on standing or select panels apiece.
The Senate has 14 Republicans serving now as standing committee chairs while GOP members are chairing all three select committees. That equates to 17 Republican chairs and none who are Democrats. Patrick tapped Republicans for 14 of the 17 vice-chairs he filled this week. That left three Democrats with vice-chairmanships in the lieutenant governor's revised lineup.
By depriving an entire Senate district of representation on committees that are tasked with interim studies, Patrick runs the risk of appearing petty and even jealous after assuring Republicans that Wambsganss would win the special race. There was nothing that Rehmet could have done as a committee member in the interim that would help his campaign to keep the seat in the fall.
But Patrick has single-handedly turned Rehmet into a martyr whose name identification will be much higher as a result of the historic snub that Democrats around Texas and beyond are lambasting as a bad case of sour grapes. Rehmet can expect the high-profile spurning to give his fundraising efforts a substantial boost - with prospective contributors who weren't aware of him learning now thanks to the Republican lieutenant governor here.
Patrick had a perfect record in Senate races in which he'd been involved until Rehmet snapped the streak this year. He would view Rehmet's victory over his candidate in the special vote as a forgetable aberration if Wambsganss wrestled the SD 9 back for the GOP this fall.
But Wambsganss may have no hope in a second pairing with Rehmet if Trump's popularity continues to crater amid soaring gasoline prices, the war in Iran, the Epstein files, ICE shootings of American citizens, incompetence at the DHS, fast-growing grocery costs and other factors that have appeared to be setting the stage for a blue wave.
"This decision reflects the kind of petty, partisan politics that too often stands in the way of delivering results for working families," Rehmet said after the snub.
"My office has already begun research and policy development on all committee topics, and although we are being denied a formal seat at the table, I will continue working every day to ensure Texas works the way it should for working families," Rehmet added in a statement that he post on X. "Today’s announcement does not change the promises I made to SD-9: to respond to the needs of my constituents, to keep my district informed on how decisions in Austin affect their daily lives, and to disavow the partisan politics that hurt Texans.”
State Rep. Vikki Goodwin of Austin - the favorite for the Democratic nomination in the lieutenant governor's race - slammed Patrick for keeping Rehmet off every committee. "The current Lt Governor is corrupt and isn’t interested in good governance," Goodwin said on X. "I’m familiar with his games and power plays. Just wait until November. Voters may agree it’s time for change."
Goodwin led Marcos Velez by almost 17 points in the March 3 primary election with 48 percent of the vote. Patrick emerged with the nomination again with nearly 85 percent of the vote in a primary field with three token foes.
more to come ...
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