Republican Matt Van Epps held off Democrat Aftyn Behn in Tuesday’s hotly contested special election for Tennessee’s 7th District House seat. Van Epps — a former Army helicopter pilot endorsed by President Trump — led Behn by 8.9 percentage points, well below the 22-point margin by which Trump carried the district in last year’s presidential election.
“Congratulations to Matt Van Epps on his BIG Congressional WIN in the Great State of Tennessee,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “The Radical Left Democrats threw everything at him, including Millions of Dollars.”
“Politicians who run from the president or abandon the common-sense policies that the American people gave us a resounding mandate on do so at their own peril,” Van Epps said at his victory party. “No matter what the DC insiders or liberal media say, this is President Trump’s party. I’m proud to be a part of it and can’t wait to get to work.”
Behn defeated Van Epps by a margin of more than three-to-one in deep-blue Davidson County — where Nashville is located — but the Republican more than made up the difference in the rest of the district, which includes staunchly GOP counties across central Tennessee.
Once Van Epps is sworn in, Republicans will temporarily have 220 House seats while Democrats will have 213. There are two vacancies in Democrat-controlled districts where special elections will be held in early 2026.
Former Vice President Al Gore and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) headlined a virtual rally for Behn on Monday night.
Behn was branded by Trump as the “AOC of Tennessee” after she refused to disavow anti-police social media posts from the summer of 2020.
