WASHINGTON — Republicans shouldn’t read too much into Tuesday’s special election results in Tennessee , where the Republican candidate notched a closer-than-expected victory over the Democratic challenger, top party leaders say. But they should heed the lessons.

Republican candidate Matt Van Epps defeated Democratic challenger Aftyn Behn by roughly 9 percentage points on Tuesday night, a single-digit margin of victory in a district that President Donald Trump won by more than 20 points in 2024. While Democrats were quick to characterize the results as a five-alarm fire, GOP leaders are warning not to take too much stock in an off-year special election — at least not yet.

“It’s not uncommon, as you all know, in midterm elections for the party out of power to have headwinds, and I think

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