Backed by United States President Donald Trump, Republican Matt Van Epps won Tuesday’s special US House election in Tennessee, defeating Democratic state Representative Aftyn Behn.
Van Epps will fill the seat vacated by former Representative Mark Green, who resigned in July.
end of list
A Democratic upset would have further narrowed the Republicans’ 219-213 House majority.
Here is what to know:
What were the final results of the Tennessee special election?
Van Epps won the election in Middle Tennessee. The Associated Press news agency called the race after Republican leaders made a late push to get their voters out.
With about 96 percent of votes counted, Van Epps had 53.9 percent, while Behn had 45 percent, according to the AP.
“This race was bigger than just one campaign,” Van Epps said in a statement. “It represented a defining moment for Tennessee and for the direction of the country.”
He also said cost-of-living concerns would be among his top priorities – a reflection of the broader focus on those issues in races this year, including the New York City mayoral race and the governors’ races in Virginia and New Jersey.
Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District is usually a safe seat for Republicans. Trump won it by 15 points in 2020 and expanded that margin to 22 points in 2024. But special elections can have surprises, and recent polls showed Behn trailing Van Epps by a few points.
Advertisement
Trump celebrated the result on Tuesday night through a post on Truth Social, congratulating Van Epps and calling it “another great night for the Republican Party”.
Why was this special election held?
Tennessee called the special election after Green, who first won the seat in 2018, resigned in July following his decision to retire.
He had been a dominant force in the district, winning re-election in 2024 by 21 points.
The seat he vacated sits in Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District, a large Middle Tennessee area stretching from the Kentucky border down to Alabama and including part of downtown Nashville. The district became more solidly Republican after the state’s Republican-controlled legislature redrew congressional boundaries in 2022.
Before that redistricting, nearly all of Nashville was grouped into one reliably Democratic district.
Lawmakers then split the city into three separate districts, including the seventh, and combined each slice of Nashville with heavily Republican suburban and rural counties.
The new map diluted Nashville’s Democratic voting power by splitting the city’s strongly Democratic, urban voters – disproportionately younger, Black, other communities of colour, and more progressive – across several districts.
Each part of the city was then combined with large suburban and rural areas that reliably vote Republican, made up of older, whiter, and more conservative voters.
This redrawing scattered Nashville’s Democratic bloc across Republican-leaning districts, making seats like the 7th Congressional District far more likely to elect Republican candidates.
But this time, saving the seat required an intervention by national Republican groups.
What are some of the factors that contributed to Van Epps’s victory?
Van Epps’s 8.9-point win marks a notable shift from previous Republican results in the district.
Analysts say a key factor that helped shape the result was the heavy investment from national Republican groups, who viewed the race as closer than expected.
“It is definitely going to concern the Republicans, so much so that there was a poll which showed that Behn could actually win,” Al Jazeera’s Patty Culhane said, reporting from Washington, DC.
Trump’s personal Political Action Committee (PAC) spent more than $1m in the election, and US House Speaker Mike Johnson flew down to rally with the candidate, she said, adding that the president addressed a campaign rally via phone.
Advertisement
It is the first time the Trump-supporting super PAC has spent money on a campaign since last year’s election.
In his victory speech, Van Epps aligned himself firmly with Trump, telling supporters that “running with Trump is how you win”.
“We are grateful to the president for his unwavering support that charted this movement and catapulted us to victory,” he said. “President Trump was all-in with us. That made the difference. In Congress, I’ll be all-in with him.”
He added that tackling rising living expenses would be one of his main goals – mirroring a theme that is emerging in many campaigns this year.
Democrats recently won by wide margins in New Jersey, Virginia, and other key races, including the New York mayoral contest, and they hoped that a strong showing in Tennessee could further embolden the party ahead of next November’s midterm elections.
“The momentum has been on our side,” Behn told local media on Tuesday evening. “We are overperforming in places where we need to be, and losing less in other places.”
Who is Matt Van Epps, and what did he run on?
According to his campaign website, Van Epps is a West Point graduate, a decorated helicopter pilot, and a lieutenant colonel who served in the Tennessee Army National Guard.
His public service includes roles in Tennessee’s state government, where he worked as commissioner of the Department of General Services and as a deputy chief operating officer in the governor’s office.
Van Epps describes himself as a strong fiscal conservative who backs the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, supports tax reductions, and favours changes to Medicaid. The bill passed in July extends tax cuts, slices welfare programmes and surges immigration funds as part of Trump’s agenda.
He also favours a “secure border”.
“Matt will work with President Trump to keep our borders secure by finishing the wall, empowering Border Patrol, and ending the woke left’s open-border agenda. Together, they will restore law and order, protect American families, and put our nation’s security first,” his page states.
On topics of foreign policy and Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, he has expressed his support for Israel, saying he will “ensure Israel has what it needs to defend itself”.
Despite his win, analysts say the outcome is still a “big warning sign to Republicans”.
“This is going to give Democrats a little bit of energy … this will be read as a referendum on Donald Trump,” Al Jazeera’s Culhane said.
“Trump’s approval rating is incredibly low – 36 percent of the country approves of the job he is doing,” she said.
British Caribbean News
