Tennessee’s reliably Republican 7th Congressional District will remain red despite the left’s aggressive campaign to turn it blue.
With 99 percent of the vote reporting, Republican and former Army helicopter pilot veteran Matt Van Epps easily defeated Democrat state Rep. Aftyn Behn, a Marxist posing as a moderate, in a special election to fill a seat left vacant earlier this year by GOP Rep. Mark Green’s retirement. Van Epps outpaced Behn by nearly 9 percentage points (53.9 percent to 45 percent).
Even in defeat, Democrats hailed the “closer-than-expected” election as a victory.
Dems and their corporate media partners painted the battle for a district that President Donald Trump won by north of 20 points as a referendum on the president and his policies — and a potential harbinger of their hoped-for “blue wave” in next year’s midterms. A victory for leftist Behn and her party would have shaved Speaker Mike Johnson’s Republican majority to a minuscule five seats and bolstered the Democratic Party’s belief that Trump and fellow Republicans are headed for a political bloodbath at the polls in 2026.
“Win or lose, Republicans have been forced to spend millions, deploy resources, and pull out all of the stops to try to save a seat in a district that Trump won by 22 points,” Democratic National Committee spokesman Abhi Rahman said in a statement on Election Day eve.
Too Left for the 7th
Behn, dubbed “the AOC of Tennessee,” still proved far too left for a traditional values district that reaches the borders of Kentucky and Alabama. Behn tried to keep the focus on pocketbook issues, audaciously claiming that she would “stand up to both parties to make life more affordable.” But she couldn’t escape her far-left record, much of which stands contrary to making life more affordable for the average Tennessean.
Like the Squad’s Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Behn has supported taxpayer-funded Medicaid for illegal aliens and government-run healthcare.
The GOP pounded her for her hatred for Nashville, her labeling of Tennessee as “racist” and “godforsaken,” and her loathing of country music. Behn contemptuously complained that she wanted to get out of the district she campaigned to represent. Behn’s anti-police past and her harassment of ICE agents most likely didn’t sit well in a law-and-order district. Neither did her systemic racism schtick and her science-confounding position that men can give birth.
But Democrats, buoyed by big wins last month in blue states New Jersey, Virginia, and California, pumped a lot of money and personnel into winning Tennessee’s 7th Congressional and, more so, the momentum narrative. Dem A-list losers, former vice president and failed presidential candidate Kamala Harris and former vice president and failed presidential candidate Al Gore — Tennessee’s own — campaigned for Behn.
The left’s full-court press helped turn what should have been a blowout victory for the GOP into a race a little too close for comfort. A poll last week from Emerson College and The Hill showed the race continued to tighten, with Van Epps up by just 2 percentage points (48 percent to 46 percent), with 5 percent of respondents undecided.
‘A Massive Wake-up Call’
While an army of leftist operatives successfully got out the early vote in parts of Nashville and left-leaning suburbs, Tennessee election watchers saw some encouraging signs on Election Day.
“Very strong election day turnout [for Republicans] today in all 14 counties that comprise the 7th District in Tennessee,” Michael Patrick Leahy, editor-in-chief of The Tennessee Star, told Steve Bannon’s War Room on Tuesday afternoon. “It looks like the projections are Election Day turnout may equal or surpass early voting.”
Still, as one influential Tennessee conservative put it, Tuesday’s special election “should be a massive wake-up call” for congressional Republican leadership. He’s equally concerned and confident that it won’t.
Critics say Van Epps, his campaign, and PAC allies spent too long sleep-walking through the race, confident that voters in the deep-red 7th would come swamp the vote. There seemed, until much too late in the campaign, no real sense of urgency, sources told The Federalist. Trump backed Van Epps early in a primary the candidate easily won. The president closed the deal with tele-rallies and an X post over the weekend urging Republicans to get out and vote.
Johnson emerged from his D.C. shadow on Monday to rally for Epps. The speaker held a phone up to a microphone as Trump reminded rallygoers what’s at stake.
“We have to win this seat,” Trump implored. The president then added, “The whole world is watching Tennessee right now, and they’re watching your district.”
‘How You Win’
In his victory speech, Van Epps preached the roadmap for Republican success in 2026, a strategy lost on some of the more powerful congressional Republicans and the consultant class.
“Running from Trump is how you lose. Running with Trump is how you win,” Van Epps said.
“Our victory was powered by a movement of Tennesseans that are ready for change. We are grateful to the President for his unwavering support that charted this movement and catapulted us to victory. President Trump was all-in with us. That made the difference. In Congress, I’ll be all-in with him.”
Matt Kittle is a senior elections correspondent for The Federalist. An award-winning investigative reporter and 30-year veteran of print, broadcast, and online journalism, Kittle previously served as the executive director of Empower Wisconsin.
