President Donald Trump and top Republicans are making a last-ditch push to prevent embarrassment in a hotly contested Tennessee special election for Congress. Democrats, meanwhile, enlisted former Vice President Al Gore and U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to back their candidate with a virtual rally Monday.

House Speaker Mike Johnson appeared in Franklin on Monday to boost GOP candidate Matt Van Epps in the 7th Congressional District race. Johnson put Trump on the phone to address the crowd.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, who is trying to protect his party's narrow majority, dialed up Trump while speaking at a rally for Matt Van Epps, the Republican candidate. As Johnson held his phone to the mic, Trump told the crowd inside a decked-out garage on a supporter's sprawling farm in Franklin to “make it a sweeping victory.”

“The whole world is watching Tennessee right now, and they’re watching your district," the president said. "It’s a big vote and it’s gonna show something. And it’s gonna show that the Republican Party is stronger than it’s ever been.”

Supporter Cheryl Brown said she didn't want to see the district flip to Democrats when it's traditionally been a Republican district.

"Matt Van Epps is a strong conservative," said Brown. "And that's what we believe in again as a conservative Republican Party. We believe in God and country. "

Van Epps faces Democratic state Rep. Aftyn Behn. Last year, the district went to former GOP Rep. Mark Green by 21 percentage points and to Trump by a similar margin.

Behn was in Clarksville, north of Nashville, to knock on doors and talk to supporters on Monday before her virtual rally with Gore and Ocasio-Cortez.

"The race is so important for a host of reasons," said Behn. "One is that I think voters are feeling that this Washington Republican economic agenda has not delivered. And that we have a Republican trifecta at the state level, the Republican trifecta at the federal level. And groceries aren't cheaper, utilities aren't cheaper, rent isn't cheaper."

Supporter Jalen Smalls said he supported Behn because she was trying to make government work for everyone.

"The basis of my politics is essentially just making sure that people have all the needs that they have, that people don't necessarily have to go without," said Smalls. "So funding our schools, feeding our children, make sure that the roads are well, make sure that the hospitals are funded, that people will have places to go. Those are the bare minimum of what people need in order to thrive, not just survive."