Republican Matt Van Epps wins Tennessee special election for House seat

NASHVILLE, TN – Republicans will hold onto a vacant GOP-controlled congressional seat Ruby Red Tennessee After winning a hotly contested special election, he attracted much national attention.

Republican candidate Matt Van Epps on Tuesday defeated Democratic challenger Aftin Behn, according to the Associated Press, in the high-stakes race to succeed former Republican Rep. Mark Green, who resigned in June to take a job in the private sector.

“This race was bigger than just one campaign,” Van Epps said in a statement after his victory was announced. “It represented a defining moment for the state of Tennessee and the direction of the country.”

With the Republican Party clinging to a razor-thin majority in the House, the special election was seen as an opportunity Republicans must win.

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Republican congressional candidate Matt Van Epps greets supporters outside a polling place on Election Day in Franklin, Tennessee, on December 2, 2025. (Paul Steinhauser/Fox News)

president Donald Trump The Seventh Congressional District – located in central and western Tennessee, extending from Kentucky to Alabama, and including parts of Nashville – scored 22 points in last year’s presidential elections. Green won the district by more than 20 points for re-election in 2022 and 2024.

But Democrats have been energized after the 2025 election, and public opinion polls have indicated a close contest between Van Eps and Behn in a showdown that was seen as a key gauge ahead of the presidential election. Midterm elections next yearWhen the Republican Party defends its majority.

As votes continued to be counted, Van Epps was on pace for a single-digit victory.

Watch: What Aftin Behn told Fox News Digital on the eve of the election

Asked by Fox News Digital on Tuesday morning whether he needed to win the election by a certain margin, Van Epps said: “A win is a win.”

But the military veteran and former commissioner of the Tennessee Department of General Services added, “We’re going to push as hard as we can to win by the largest possible margin, and then we’re going to maintain the majority in the ’26 election.”

Behn, a state representative and former health care community organizer, has been called the “AOC of Tennessee” compared to the progressive champion Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez“While tonight is not the end result of what we wanted, it is the beginning of something very powerful in the state of Tennessee and across the South,” she said in her concession speech.

She sent a similar message to her supporters at a local Democratic Party office in Nashville on Tuesday morning.

“No matter what happened, whether you won or lost, you inspired a country. You showed people that the South had something to say,” Behn said.

“For me, we’ve already captured the hearts and minds of a lot of Tennesseans and across the country,” Behn told Fox News Digital minutes later when asked if she was a winner even without winning the election. “What starts here changes this country.”

“I think voters are shifting to accept a candidate like me with a progressive record,” she added.

Trump, whose endorsement of Van Eps helped the candidate win a crowded and competitive primary last month, took to social media to congratulate “Van Eps on his big win in Congress.”

“Another great night for the Republican Party!!!” The president said in his social media post.

“Our victory was powered by a movement of Tennesseans ready for change,” Van Epps said in his victory speech. “We are grateful to the President for his unwavering support that shaped this movement and propelled us to victory. President Trump has been fully behind us. That is what made the difference. And in Congress, I will be right with him.”

Republican candidate Matt Van Eps delivers a victory speech after winning a special election for Congress in Tennessee’s 7th District, on December 2, 2025 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Paul Steinhauser/Fox News)

But Democratic National Committee Chairman Ken Martin said in a statement: “What happened tonight in Tennessee makes clear that Democrats are on the offensive and Republicans are on the lam.”

“Aftin Behn’s overperformance in the Trump +22 district is historic and a flashing warning sign for Republicans heading into the midterms,” Martin said. “The fact that Republicans spent millions protecting Trump’s 22+ district and still lost so much ground should have the GOP shaking in their boots. Democrats are all high-wired and have no brakes as we head into next year, organizing everywhere and running in elections across the country.”

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With so much at stake, outside groups aligned with both parties spent millions of dollars to run ads in the race. Both the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and the rival Republican National Committee (RNC) poured resources into the standoff, which included sending staffers to the campaign trail.

Speaker of the House of Representatives Mike Johnson He spent the entire day on Election Eve with Van Epps, joining the GOP candidate at a slew of rallies and stops throughout the district. He was joined by RNC Chairman Joe Gruters.

House Speaker Mike Johnson joins Republican congressional candidate Matt Van Epps at an Election Eve rally in Franklin, Tennessee on December 1, 2025. (Paul Steinhauser/Fox News)

“We will win this seat, but we can’t take anything for granted,” Johnson said in an interview with Fox News Digital.

“Special elections are weird because a lot of people take it for granted that in a deep red district like this that a Republican will automatically win. Nothing is automatic. So we’re here to help increase 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 do not vote when the president is not on the ballot, Johnson emphasized that “we need everyone to participate.”

Before introducing Van Epps at the first rally on Monday, Johnson called Trump on his cell phone, and the president spoke to the crowd for more than four minutes.

“Let’s make it a sweeping victory,” Trump said. “The whole world is watching Tennessee 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 ever.”

Trump joined Van Epps later in the day for an evening conference call.

In another sign of the importance of holding the seat, Republican Gov. Bill Lee, Republican 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, campaigned with him on Monday.

Behn also enjoyed last-minute support from high-profile replacements.

Ocasio-Cortez; representative. Pramila Jayapal from Washington State, who has chaired the Congressional Progressive Caucus for the past four years; Black Voters Matter Fund co-founder LaTosha Brown and former Vice President Al Gore, a Tennessee native, both spoke at a virtual rally on election eve.

“The reason this race is competitive is because I’ve been to community gatherings, potlucks, funerals, weddings with voters in the 7th District, and they remember that,” Behn told Fox News Digital.

Behn has faced repeated attacks because she does not get along with voters in the district.

“It does not represent the values ​​of Tennessee or America. It is as far left as you can get. It is extreme,” Van Epps claimed in his interview with Fox News Digital. “We must reject this ideology. We will do so tomorrow.”

Johnson argued Monday that Behn was a “radical” and “dangerous far-left extremist. She will be a rubber stamp for Hakeem Jeffries, AOC, and all the extremists in Congress.”

Trump, repeating comments he made over the weekend on social media, accused Behn of “hating Christianity” and “hating country music.”

Trump was referring to previous comments Behn made in a 2020 podcast.

“I hate the city, I hate single people, I hate pedal bars, I hate country music, I hate all the things that apparently make Nashville ‘special’ to the rest of the country. But I hate it,” she said on the podcast.

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The area is completely red, but includes parts of The Democratic stronghold of Nashville Tennessee’s capital and most populous city, and a major national center for the country music industry. The district includes parts of north and west Nashville, including the downtown area that has long been a popular tourist destination.

In an interview with CNN on Sunday, Behn noted that she was a “private citizen” when she made the comments. “Nashville is my home. Do I roll my eyes at bachelor parties and bars blocking my access to my house? Yes. All of Nashville does. But this race has always been about something bigger. It’s about families in middle Tennessee who are being crushed by rising prices.”

Democratic congressional candidate Aftin Behn speaks to supporters at the party office on election eve, in Franklin, Tennessee, on December 1, 2025. (Paul Steinhauser/Fox News)

Republicans also targeted Behn over an op-ed titled “Tennessee is a racist state, and so is its legislature,” which appeared in a 2019 edition of The Tennessean.

In a recent social media post to the six-year-old op-ed, the Republican National Committee asked, “If Behn hates Tennessee so much, why is she trying to represent her?”

Anti-police comments Behn made on a now-deleted social media account have also resurfaced in recent weeks.

“Obviously I’m living rent-free in President Trump’s mind,” Behn told supporters on Monday.

When asked by Fox News Digital about the verbal fire coming from Republicans, Behn joked: “I always like to hear from my fans.”

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“I have a track record of participating in the tough fights and the small fights in between, not just as an organizer and activist, but as a legislator,” she said.

Committed to her main cause of tackling the high cost of living, Bean said she is “working on a very simple message of addressing the affordability crisis faced by Tennesseans, who are… [Republicans] There is no cure for this.

Fox News Channel’s Asher Reed contributed to this story