(CNN) — Republican Matt Van Epps has won the special US House election for Tennessee’s 7th District, preventing an upset but emboldening Democrats who over-performed 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.

Democrats including Behn argued that even a narrow loss wo

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