(CNN) — Republican Matt Van Epps will win the special US House election for Tennessee’s 7th District, CNN’s Decision Desk projects, preventing an upset but emboldening Democrats as they were on track to over-perform in a normally deep-red district.

His win over Democrat Aftyn Behn allows the GOP to retain the seat previously held by former Rep. Mark Green, who resigned in July to take a private-sector job.

Leading up to Tuesday’s special election, Republicans had increasingly feared what would have been a disastrous loss in a district President Donald Trump won by 22 percentage points just 13 months ago. While Democrats notched big wins in the Virginia and New Jersey governors’ races last month, a flip in Republican-led Tennessee would have been a much more shocking victory.

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