Republican Matt Van Epps triumphed in Tuesday’s House special election in Tennessee, stifling talk of a possible Democrat upset in a reliably red district.
As of Tuesday evening, the Associated Press projexted Van Epps as the winner, defeating his Democrat opponent, Tennessee state Rep. Aftyn Behn.
Epps will fill the seat of former Rep. Mark Green, a Republican who resigned from Congress in July to work in the private sector.
With 95% of the vote counted, Van Epps was beating Behn by about 9 percentage points, 53.9% to 45%. In 2024, President Donald Trump won the district by 22 percentage points.
Going into the election, there were signs that the race in a solidly red district could produce an uncomfortably close outcome for Republicans with an election year right around the corner.
A recent survey from Emerson College Polling and The Hill showed the race could be close, with Van Epps leading at 48% support against Behn’s 46%.
The GOP Push for Van Epps
Van Epps got a boost from Trump, who stepped in to encourage Republican turnout.
“To the Great People of Tennessee’s 7th District, who gave me Record Setting Wins in each of three Elections, I am asking you to get out and VOTE FOR MATT VAN EPPS,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post Sunday.
Trump also heaped scorn on Behn, the Democrat Tennessee state representative seeking an upset in a district where Republicans have won comfortably in the past.
NEW: President Trump talks to voters through the phone after calling Speaker Johnson during a rally for Republican Matt Van Epps in the special election race in Tennessee against Aftyn Behn:
“She said two things above all else that bothered me.
Number 1: She hates Christianity.… pic.twitter.com/Wh9mhaRVvo— Fox News (@FoxNews) December 1, 2025
“Matt is fighting against a woman who hates Christianity, will take away your guns, wants Open Borders, Transgender for everybody, men in women’s sports, and openly disdains Country music,” Trump wrote.
House leadership and prominent Tennessee Republicans also stepped in to rally Republicans behind Van Epps.
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., joined Van Epps at rallies in the leadup to the election, at one of which he had Trump via a speaker phone call say, “Matt Van Epps is a winner and will be great…The Democrats are spending a fortune, and we don’t want people that want to raise your taxes. [Behn] wants to raise your taxes on top of everything else.”
Tennessee Republican Reps. Tim Burchett and Andy Ogles, as well as Sens. Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty, rallied for Van Epps as well.
In the run up to the election, Republicans highlighted Behn’s online footprint, including a podcast appearance in which she said of Nashville, “I hate this city, I hate the bachelorettes, I hate the pedal taverns, I hate country music.”
“I hate all of the things that make Nashville, apparently, an ‘it’ city to the rest of the country, but I hate it,” Behn said.
“Number one, she hates Christianity. Number two, she hates country music. How the hell can you elect a person like that?” Trump said, calling into a Van Epps rally that featured the speaker.
Nashville is the largest city in the district Behn hoped to represent.
In response to the resurfaced audio, Behn said on CNN, that she “was a private citizen.”
“Nashville’s my home,” Behn added. “Do I roll my eyes at the bachelorette parties and the pedal taverns that are blocking my access to my house? Yeah. Every Nashvillian does, but this race has always been about something bigger.”
In 2020, Behn expressed support on social media for calls to defund the police, in addition to writing, “Good morning, especially to the 54% of Americans that believe burning down a police station is justified.”
Pressed for clarification on those remarks, Behn said on MS NOW, formerly MSNBC, “I don’t remember these tweets” and “I’m here to talk about my race, which is in literally nine days.
WATCH:
The Democratic nominee for the special election in Tennessee’s conservative Seventh Congressional District, Aftyn Behn, called to defund the police and praised rioters for burning down police stations.
Asked whether she stands by those positions, Behn told MS NOW, “Um,… pic.twitter.com/oZv9L4dfXR
— Washington Free Beacon (@FreeBeacon) November 25, 2025
On Monday, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., presented the surprisingly positive polls for Democrats in Tennessee as a bad sign for Republicans nationwide.
“Republicans have already lost,” Jeffries said. “The fact that they are spending millions of dollars to hold a seat that Donald Trump just won by 22 points is extraordinary.”
