Republican Matt Van Epps narrowly beat Democrat Aftyn Behn in a special election Tuesday night to represent Tennessee 7th congressional district.
Van Epps was leading Behn 53.5 percent to 45.5 percent, with 75 percent of votes counted, when NBC News declared Van Epps’s victory.
The district has not had a Democratic representative since 1983, but Van Epps’s win came after polls showed the two neck-and-neck heading into Tuesday. Democrats had hoped to continue their strong electoral fortunes from last month, when they flipped some of the most Republican districts across the country and won the governorships of New Jersey and Virginia.
Behn outperformed Kamala Harris’s 2024 margin in the district, nearly closing the 20-point gap between her and Donald Trump. But the Trump-endorsed Van Epps, a former commissioner of the Tennessee Department of General Services and Army helicopter pilot, ultimately defeated Behn, a Tennessee state representative and former community organizer.
The latest poll from last week showed Van Epps narrowly leading Behn 48 percent to 46 percent, with two percent voting elsewhere and five percent undecided. Fearful conservatives dropped millions on the race, with right-wing super PACs alone spending $3.3 million against Behn as of last week, a huge expenditure for a normally safe seat in an off year.
The tightness of the race caused alarm among Republicans nationally, with House Speaker Mike Johnson traveling to Tennessee to campaign for Van Epps, even calling President Trump on speakerphone to address a rally.
“We have to win this seat. We’ve gotten you the largest tax cuts in history, and the new bill—the Great Big Beautiful Bill—kicks in, as you know, on January 1. It hasn’t even kicked in yet,” Trump said. “Number one, [Behn] hates Christianity, number two, she hates country music. How the hell can you elect a person like that?… It’s a big vote, and it’s gonna show something. It’s gonna show that the Republican Party is stronger than it’s ever been.”
In the end, Trump’s plea didn’t hurt Van Epps in conservative Tennessee despite the president’s approval rating being underwater. While the GOP has maintained its narrow majority in the House, Van Epps’s close victory will not inspire much confidence for Republicans heading into the 2026 midterm elections.
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