The Republican congressional nominee in a special election for a hotly contested GOP-controlled vacant U.S. House seat in ruby-red Tennessee says he’s getting “incredible reports back all across the district.”
Matt Van Epps touted “great turnout for us” as he spoke with Fox News Digital Tuesday morning after greeting supporters outside a polling station. “We were up in early voting, and we’re just going to keep pressing forward to win today.”
Van Epps is facing off against Democratic nominee Aftyn Behn in the race to succeed former GOP Rep. Mark Green, who resigned from office in June to take a private sector job.
With the GOP clinging to a razor-thin majority in the House, the election is seen as a must-win for Republicans.
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President Donald Trump carried the 7th Congressional District — which is located in central and western Tennessee, stretches from Kentucky to Alabama, and includes parts of Nashville — by 22 points in last year’s presidential election. And Green won the district by over 20 points in his 2022 and 2024 re-elections.
But Democrats are energized following the 2025 elections, and public opinion surveys suggested a close contest between Van Epps and Behn in a showdown that’s seen as a key barometer ahead of next year’s midterm elections, when the GOP will be defending its majority.
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Asked by Fox News Digital if he needed to win the election by a certain margin, Van Epps said, “a win is a win.”
But the military combat veteran and former commissioner of the Tennessee Department of General Services added that “we’re going to press as hard as we can to win by the biggest margin we can, and then we’re going to hold the majority in ’26.”
Behn, a state representative and former healthcare community organizer, who’s been dubbed the “AOC of the South” in a comparison to progressive champion Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, told supporters at a local Democratic Party office in Nashville on Tuesday morning that “whatever happens, win or lose, you’ve inspired a country. You’ve shown people the South has something to say.”
“For me, we’ve already won over the hearts and minds of so many Tennesseans and across the country,” Behn told Fox News Digital minutes later when asked if she’s a winner even without an election victory. “What starts here changes this country.”
And she added, “I think the electorate is shifting to accept a candidate like me that has a progressive track record.”
With so much on the line, outside groups aligned with both parties shelled out millions of dollars to run ads in the race. And the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and the rival Republican National Committee (RNC) each poured resources into the showdown, which included dispatching staffers onto the campaign trail.
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House Speaker Mike Johnson spent the entire day on Election Eve with Van Epps, joining the GOP nominee at a slew of rallies and stops across the district. He was joined by RNC chair Joe Gruters.
“We’re going to win this seat, but we cannot take anything for granted,” Johnson said in an interview with Fox News Digital.
“Special elections are strange because a lot of people take for granted in a deep red district like this that the Republican is just going to win automatically. Nothing’s automatic. So we’re here to help turn out the vote and make sure we get this great candidate right over that line,” Johnson said.
Aiming to motivate low-propensity Trump supporters, who often don’t vote when the president’s not on the ballot, Johnson emphasized that “we need everybody to turn out.”
Before introducing Van Epps at Monday’s first rally, Johnson called Trump on his cell phone, and the president spoke to the crowd for over four minutes.
“Let’s make it a sweeping victory,” Trump said. “The whole world is watching Tennessee right now. And they’re watching your district. The whole world. It’s a big vote. It’s going to show something. It’s got to show that the Republican Party is stronger than it’s ever been.”
Trump joined Van Epps later in the day for an evening tele rally.
In another sign of the importance of holding the seat, Republican Gov. Bill Lee, GOP Sens. Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty, as well as Republican members of Congress from Tennessee, state GOP lawmakers and rival candidates who lost to Van Epps in last month’s primary, showed up in support.
Behn also enjoyed last minute support from high-profile surrogates.
Ocasio-Cortez; Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington state, who chaired the Congressional Progressive Caucus the past four years; Black Voters Matter Fund co-founder LaTosha Brown and former Vice President Al Gore, a Tennessee native, all spoke at an Election Eve virtual rally.
“The reason this race is competitive is because I have been at community gatherings, potlucks, funerals, weddings, with the voters in the seventh district, and they remember that,” Behn told Fox News Digital.
But Van Epps, pointing to his Election Eve appearances with Johnson, told Fox News, “I think we were at probably 10 events yesterday to have him here with us and campaigning, the momentum is real. Been endorsed by over 50 local leaders across the district. We’ve built momentum from the primary, and we’re going to carry this forward.”
