Republican Matt Van Epps has won a hotly contested special election for a deep-red congressional seat in Tennessee, NBC News projects, seeing off a Democratic challenge for the longtime GOP district.
Though Donald Trump carried the 7th Congressional District by 22 points in 2024, Republican super PACs poured millions into defending the seat as Van Epps faced off against Aftyn Behn, a Democratic state representative. Democrats spent almost as much trying to capture it, as Trump’s political standing has taken a hit this year and the Democratic Party made gains in November elections in New Jersey, Virginia and other states.
But Democrats did significantly cut the GOP margin in the district from just a year ago. With most of the expected vote counted, Van Epps had a 9-point districtwide lead. It continues a pattern of Democrats making big gains in elections this year compared to the 2024 results.
If republicans are losing those kinds of numbers into midterms we could actually see a functional congress soon
And everyone’s voting Republican again next November, because Trump is Just Plain Folks! Sad.
My understanding of the world and it’s politics took many years of watching and learning. Now, after the last decade, it all feels like “Prophecy” to me.
we progressives need to focus all of our energy in tennessee from now until 2028 because if we don’t take tennessee in 2028 it’s just fucking over, hello fascism in america
Hey guys, we ignored 49 other states so we had 20 seats flip red, but we won 2 in Tennessee!
