Democrats lost Tennessee's special election. They're still hopeful.

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Moral victories are only valuable for losers. But a year after a catastrophic defeat in the 2024 presidential election, Democrats were happy to take a moral victory on Tuesday night in a Tennessee special election.

In a deep red district that Trump had won by more than 20 points in 2024, Democratic state representative Aftyn Behn dramatically closed the gap into the high single digits. With over 95 percent of precincts reporting, Republican Matt Van Epps had won a 54 percent to 45 percent victory over the Democratic candidate, who had become a progressive darling and right wing bugbear in recent weeks.

The race was a bellweather for 2026 , and Democrats hailed