Republican Matt Van Epps won a nationally watched special election in Tennessee for a seat in the U.S. House on Tuesday, maintaining his party’s grip on the district with help from President Donald Trump.

A military veteran and former state general services commissioner from Nashville, Van Epps defeated Democratic state Rep. Aftyn Behn to represent the 7th Congressional District.

At her own campaign gathering, Behn took the stage with a burst of energy, singing Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5.” Though she came up short of victory, she said, the result was “the beginning of something” powerful.

Republicans drew the district to be uncompetitive, she added, and “Nobody in Washington believed we could get even this close.”

“Tonight isn’t the end. It is the beginning of a next chapter of Tennessee and American politics — one of possibility, one of power and one of progress for the people that we love,” Behn said.

Democrats recently won by wide margins in New Jersey, Virginia and elsewhere, and they hoped that a strong showing in Tennessee could further embolden the party ahead of midterm elections next November.

The 7th District is one of three seats redrawn in 2022 to erode the influence of Nashville, the state’s largest city and a Democratic stronghold. Only about 1 in 5 of its registered voters are in Nashville, and last year it went to Green by 21 percentage points and to Trump by a similar margin.

AP video by Kristin Hall.