USA TODAY National
NASHVILLE — Republican Matt Van Epps defeated Democrat Aftyn Behn in a closely watched Tennessee special congressional election on Tuesday, staving off a major upset in a race that attracted President Donald Trump’s help to avoid a GOP disaster in an overwhelmingly Republican district.
But the tight margin of victory in Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District was a potential warning sign for Republicans less than a year from the 2026 midterm elections.
Van Epps, a combat veteran and former commissioner of the Tennessee Department of General Services, topped Behn, a progressive Democratic state representative, by single digits in a district that Trump won by 22 points in last year's presidential election.
Behn's early lead evaporated
Behn appeared to win a majority of the early vote, but Van Epps used a massive Republican turnout on Election Day ‒ boosted by an aggressive last-minute push by Trump and other national Republicans ‒ to carry him to victory.
The race to replace retired Republican Tennessee Rep. Mark Green turned into a surprisingly tight contest as Democrats nationally benefit from reinvigorated voter enthusiasm and Trump's sinking poll numbers.
On the heels of a Democratic sweep in the Nov. 4 off-year elections, Republicans led by Trump waged an aggressive blitz in the final weeks of the campaign to stop Democrats from flipping a district that Trump won by 22 percentage points in the 2024 election.
“This is just an incredible win. Tonight you sent a message loud and clear: The people of Middle Tennessee stand with President Donald J. Trump,” Van Epps told cheering supporters.
To galvanize the GOP base, Republicans unleashed an onslaught of attacks on Behn to try to paint her as a "far-left lunatic" they labeled the "AOC of Tennessee." That included highlighting past social media posts from Behn questioning whether police should be dissolved, remarks that religion being prominent in the state legislature makes her "uncomfortable," and commenting that both "men and women" can give birth.
Trump held multiple tele-town halls for Van Epps and used his X account and its 109 million followers to urge Tennesseans to vote for the GOP candidate. Speaking through a speakerphone at a Van Epps event on Monday, Trump told supporters, "the whole world is watching" the race. House Speaker Mike Johnson stumped for Van Epps at the same rally.
Aftyn Behn more liberal than recent Democratic winners
Behn, a former community organizer and progressive activist, relied on an enthusiastic base of young voters and a robust social media presence. She didn't fit the mold of a typical southern Democrat trying to win a conservative seat, nor did she match the centrist profiles of Abigail Spanberger in Virginia and Mikie Sherrill in New Jersey, who helped deliver Democrats' strong off-year election performance last month.
In her campaign, Behn leaned into a similar affordability theme that carried Democrats in the off-year elections, highlighting her support to end the state's grocery tax and campaigning on lowering health costs. She has embraced a pragmatic slogan: "Feed kids, fix roads, and fund hospitals."
Signaling a potential blue wave in next year's midterm elections, Behn and Van Epps were locked in a tight race in a district that Trump carried by 22 percentage points in 2024. A poll from Emerson College Polling/The Hill found Van Epps leading by only 2 percentage points, 48% to 46%, within the survey's margin of error.
The district includes parts of Nashville, a Democratic stronghold, and Clarksville, Tennessee, as well as several conservative-leaning rural counties.
Trump congratulates Van Epps for election win
Shortly after the race was called, Trump took to Truth Social for a victory lap.
“Congratulations to Matt Van Epps on his BIG Congressional WIN in the Great State of Tennessee,” he wrote. “The Radical Left Democrats threw everything at him, including Millions of Dollars. Another great night for the Republican Party!!!”
Van Epps, in his victory speech, thanked the president for his endorsement, adding that embracing Trump helped lead him to victory.
– Rebecca Morin
Van Epps thanks Trump: 'Endorsement made the difference'
Shortly after 8:50 p.m., the crowd at Millennium Maxwell House broke out in chants of “Matt! Matt! Matt!” as Tennessee GOP Chairman Scott Golden took the stage to kick off Van Epps’ victory speech and introduce Gov. Bill Lee.
“This wouldn’t have happened without President Trump, and with his support, his help in both the primary and in the general election, and so we owe him a deep debt of gratitude,” Lee said. “I never thought I would say that I would be glad for the day when Matt Van Epps was no longer in my cabinet, but I’m glad for that day because now he’s going to be in the U.S. Congress.”
Van Epps took the stage and addressed a cheering crowd just before 9 p.m.
“This is just an incredible win. Tonight you sent a message loud and clear: The people of Middle Tennessee stand with President Donald J. Trump,” Van Epps said.
“To President Donald J. Trump, thank you sir. Your endorsement made the difference and I will never forget it,” he added. “To those that didn’t support us in this election, I still work for you. I’ll work hard to serve you with honesty and integrity every day.
— Vivian Jones, Nashville Tennessean
RNC chair says Tennessee voters rejected ‘radical’ Democratic platform
The Republican National Committee touted the victory as a repudiation of Democrats’ "radical platform."
"Voters didn’t just reject Aftyn Behn and her anti-Tennessee, abolish-the-police agenda − they rejected the Democrats’ entire radical platform," RNC chairman Joe Gruters said in a statement shortly after the race was called.
“While Democrats stood united behind Behn and her far-left ideas, Republicans stood behind Matt Van Epps, a patriot who loves his state and loves this nation,” Gruters said. “This win makes one thing clear: voters want leaders who deliver for hardworking Americans, not far-left candidates who hate the very people they claim to represent.”
Despite Van Epps’ win, the margin appeared to be less than 10 percentage points, significantly lower than Trump’s 22-point victory in the district in the 2024 presidential election.
— Joey Garrison
Democrats claim midterm momentum after close Tennessee loss
Despite Behn losing the race, Democrats claimed momentum after she overperformed in a district that Trump carried handily in the 2024 election.
“What happened tonight in Tennessee makes it clear: Democrats are on offense and Republicans are on the ropes,” Democratic National Committee chairman Ken Martin said in a statement. “Aftyn Behn’s overperformance in this Trump +22 district is historic and a flashing warning sign for Republicans heading into the midterms.”
Martin said that while Behn centered her campaign on affordability, Van Epps focused his campaign on Trump.
“He had to get bailed out by a massive Republican spending onslaught to barely hold this traditionally safe Republican seat,” Martin said. “The fact that Republicans spent millions to protect this Trump +22 district and still lost so much ground should have the GOP shaking in their boots.”
— Joey Garrison
'I look forward to midterms,' Behn says as race called for Van Epps
As projections show her Republican opponent as the winner, Behn said the close margin in Tennessee's special election offers insight into next year’s midterm elections for Democrats.
“This was a district that Trump won handily, and he and his billionaire friends had to spend millions of dollars to bolster their candidate of choice,” she said. “It portends what will happen next year when you have Republicans that are in more competitive seats, struggling with candidates that look a lot like me and for me that's a really exciting moment.”
“I look forward to midterms next year,” she added.
Behn said that she will call to concede to Van Epps. “I will call him and make sure that he knows that we – that I – ran a good race,” she said.
Van Epps will finish out the term of retired Republican Rep. Green, and would have to run for reelection again in the 2026 midterms to remain in Congress. Behn left the door open for a possible rematch.
“I look forward to maybe competing with him next year,” she said.
— Rebecca Morin
Van Epps cuts into Behn's lead as Election Day vote is counted
Van Epps has taken a 6-point lead in the Tennessee special election as Election Day votes are being tallied.
But none of the Election Day votes from Democratic-heavy Nashville have been posted.
It’s unclear whether it will be enough votes for Behn to overcome Van Epps’ advantage.
After Behn won the district’s early vote, Van Epps has erased her lead with the votes cast on Election Day.
Van Epps received a large bounce when Election Day votes from Williamson County, an affluent Nashville suburb, came in, along with votes from rural counties in the district.
Van Epps is winning rural, conservative counties by wider margins than he won the early vote in those same counties – reflecting a trend nationwide in which Republicans fare better on same-day voting.
— Joey Garrison
Aftyn Behn racks up huge margin in Democratic-heavy Nashville
Behn racked up a sizable vote lead in Democratic-heavy Davidson County, the home of Nashville, where she topped Van Epps in the early vote by 84.9% to 14.5%, according to unofficial results.
Former Vice President Kamala Harris won the same part of Davidson County 68%-30% over Trump in the 2024 presidential election.
The overperformance is good news for Behn, but she still likely needs to carry the entire early-vote portion of the race across the whole district to overcome Van Epps’ votes on Election Day. Results are still coming in.
Preliminary early vote results show Behn with a 52%-46% early vote lead, but additional early votes haven’t been counted in rural parts of the district.
— Joey Garrison
Polls close in Tennessee special election, vote tallies coming in
Polls closed in Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District special election at 7 p.m. CT.
Early vote totals are expected to be the first results posted by the Tennessee Secretary of State’s Office. Results have already started to come in.
— Joey Garrison
Republicans drew the 7th Congressional District to be safe for GOP
Tennessee's 7th Congressional District was never supposed to be competitive.
It's the creation of Tennessee's Republican-controlled legislature, which drew its boundaries in 2022 when it sliced up Democratic stronghold Nashville into three districts, each dominated by conservative rural counties and different Middle Tennessee suburbs.
The idea was to dilute Democratic votes in the overwhelmingly Republican state to give Tennessee an additional Republican seat – an 8-1 congressional advantage over Democrats rather than 7-2.
One of the overhauled districts was the seventh, which includes parts of Nashville's Davidson County and 13 other counties. The other largest cities in the district are Clarksville, which has a roughly 50-50 Democratic/Republican split, and parts of Franklin.
Trump won the district by 22 points in the 2024 presidential election.
— Joey Garrison
Aftyn Behn labeled the ‘AOC of Tennessee’
Behn, a 36-year-old progressive, has been labeled by Republicans as the “AOC of Tennessee,” referring to Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York.
Ocasio-Cortez, a progressive Democrat who is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, unseated a powerful centrist Democrat in the 2018 midterms and has become the face of the progressive movement.
Trump, during a rally call in support of Van Epps last month, painted Behn as “the AOC of Tennessee.” Since then, Republicans have continued to attach that label to the Tennessee Democrat.
Behn came under fire after 2020 comments she made about Nashville resurfaced, where she said, “I’ve been heavily involved in the Nashville mayoral race because I hate this city, I hate the bachelorettes, I hate the pedal taverns, I hate country music.”
She has since clarified her comments, saying that she wants “Nashville to be a place where working people can thrive.”
Still, Republicans have bombarded voters with ads that slam Behn as "hating Nashville.”
– Rebecca Morin
Tennessee polls close in less than one hour
All polls in Tennessee’s closely watched 7th Congressional District special election are set to close in less than one hour at 7 p.m. CT.
The entire district − which includes a slice of Nashville, as well as Clarksville, Franklin, and rural towns throughout Middle Tennessee − is within the central time zone. That means all polls will close at the same time.
— Joey Garrison
Will high Election Day turnout boost Matt Van Epps?
The race appears to have a high Election Day turnout in all 14 counties that are in the 7th Congressional District, according to both Democrats and Republicans closely monitoring the voting tallies.
Most observers believe high turnout on Election Day favors Van Epps, the Republican nominee.
In recent elections, Democrats have relied on a larger share of the early vote while Republicans have racked up their biggest numbers on Election Day.
With the help of Trump and other top Republicans, Van Epps has worked to boost overall turnout so the electorate more closely resembles the voter makeup of national elections. Trump won the 7th Congressional District by 22 points in the 2024 presidential election.
A low-turnout election, which special elections typically are, would be expected to benefit Behn. That’s because voters more likely to go to the polls for stand-alone, off-year elections are those most fired up – in this case, Democrats.
— Joey Garrison
Results from early voting are expected shortly after polls close
Polls in all 14 counties of Tennessee's 7th Congressional District are scheduled to close at 7 p.m. CT.
The results of early voting typically appear on the Tennessee Secretary of State's website shortly after the polls close, followed by election day results.
Both Van Epps and Behn are hosting election night gatherings in Nashville.
− Vivian Jones, Nashville Tennessean
Where does polling stand in Tennessee race?
Republican Van Epps holds a small lead over Democrat Behn in the race to fill a solidly red House district, according to an Emerson College Polling/The Hill poll released last week.
Van Epps is leading Behn by only 2 percentage points, 48% to 46%, the poll showed. The survey results are within the margin of error of 3.9 percentage points.
The poll found that Behn and Van Epps each have a 47% favorable rating among voters and a 41% unfavorable rating.
When asked what the most important issue facing Tennessee was, the economy came out on top at 38%. Housing affordability followed at 15%, followed by healthcare (13%) and threats to democracy (13%).
— Rebecca Morin
Trump talks Tennessee at Cabinet meeting
Trump brought up the special election in Tennessee's 7th Congressional District during his Dec. 2 Cabinet meeting – and singled out Democratic nominee Aftyn Behn – as he bemoaned how Democrats are running on “affordability” in their campaigns.
"They have a race going on right now in Tennessee, and this woman goes, 'Affordability, affordability.' They’re the ones who caused the problem,” Trump said. "The prices were way high. We’re bringing the prices down.”
Trump has urged his supporters to back Republican nominee Van Epps in an effort to stave off a Democratic upset in a district Trump carried by 22 percentage points in the 2024 election. A close race is expected.
To try to stave off a major Democratic upset, Trump has held multiple tele-town halls for Van Epps, and used his X account and its 109 million followers to urge Tennesseans to vote for the GOP candidate.
Speaking through a phone held by Speaker Mike Johnson, Trump told supporters at a Dec. 1 Van Epps rally “the whole world is watching.” In the same remarks, Trump falsely accused Behn of hating Christianity and country music – two staples of Middle Tennessee.
— Joey Garrison
Al Gore stumps for Democrat Aftyn Behn in close Tennessee race
Former Vice President Al Gore made a rare return to the campaign trail, delivering an impassioned plea to Tennesseans to vote for Behn in the state's 7th Congressional District special election.
Gore, a former U.S. senator from Tennessee, said he's "never seen the political tides shift as far and fast as we're seeing them move in this election" as Behn looks to pull off a major upset in her race against Republican Matt Van Epps in a reliably red district.
"I think it's obvious why," Gore said in a virtual rally for Behn on the eve of the Dec. 2 election. "Because while the people of Tennessee are seeing their grocery prices rise and their health care costs skyrocket, Donald Trump is building a golden ballroom and lining his own pockets."
Seeking to avert a disaster, Trump has jumped into the race to urge his supporters to vote for Van Epps.
— Joey Garrison
Republicans unleash last-minute attack blitz against Aftyn Behn
In response to a tighter-than-expected race, the main political action committee linked to Trump, MAGA Inc., has spent more than $1 million to boost Van Epps, with millions more coming from PACs tied to the Club for Growth and other conservative groups. The Democratic-backed House Majority PAC last week dropped a $1 million ad buy in the race.
In recent weeks, Republicans have unleashed an onslaught of attacks on Behn to try to paint her as a "far-left lunatic" they've labeled the "AOC of Tennessee." That includes highlighting past social media posts from Behn questioning whether police should be dissolved, remarks that religion being prominent in the state legislature makes her "uncomfortable," and commenting that "men and women" can give birth.
"We are so close to winning this race, which is why these rumors are getting more wild, so I can't wait to see what they come up with next," Behn said in a recent video taken as she addressed some of the recent attacks.
— Joey Garrison
Trump tells Matt Van Epps rally 'the whole world is watching'
On the eve of Election Day, Trump told Tennesseans "the whole world is watching" during a Van Epps rally in Franklin, Tennessee aimed at energizing the Republican base.
Trump, speaking through a cellphone held by House Speaker Mike Johnson, urged Tennesseans to vote for Republican nominee Van Epps as the president falsely accused Behn of hating Christianity and country music ‒ two staples in Middle Tennessee.
"Tomorrow morning, get out and vote," Trump said. "Let's make it a sweeping victory. The whole world is watching Tennessee right now and they're watching your district. The whole world. It's a big vote. It's going to show something, and it's going to show that the Republican Party is stronger than it's ever been."
Johnson's presence in Tennessee and Trump's campaigning ‒ the president has held multiple tele-town halls for Van Epps ‒ is a sign Republicans are taking the race seriously and they know it's close.
- Joey Garrison
What can the election tell us about the midterms?
Even if Behn doesn't win the race ‒ something that would have been unthinkable a few weeks ago ‒ a defeat by single-digits could signal major trouble for Republicans in the 2026 midterm elections.
The race follows the Nov. 4 off-year elections in which Democrats swept races in Virginia, New Jersey, New York, and California.
Democratic hopes in reliably red Tennessee come as an NPR/PBS News Marist Poll taken Nov. 10 to 13 found Democrats have opened a sizeable 14-point lead nationally, 55%-41%, when voters are asked which party they plan to back in the midterms. It's the largest Democratic lead in the poll's so-called "generic ballot" since 2017, which came during Trump's first term.
Democrats' domination in the off-year election was widely seen as a repudiation of Trump and his handling of inflation and the economy. Trump's approval rating has since dropped to a second-term low 36%, according to a Gallup poll released Nov. 28.
— Joey Garrison
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Matt Van Epps holds off Democratic upset in Tennessee special election
Reporting by Joey Garrison, Rebecca Morin and Vivian Jones, USA TODAY NETWORK / USA TODAY
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