Posted on 12/03/2025 4:51:02 AM PST by MtnClimber
Republican Matt Van Epps held off Democrat Aftyn Behn in Tuesday’s hotly contested special election for Tennessee’s 7th District House seat, giving the GOP a much-needed electoral victory to close out a bumpy 2025.
With 99% of the expected vote in, Van Epps — a former Army helicopter pilot endorsed by President Trump — led Behn by 8.9 percentage points, well below the 22-point margin by which Trump carried the district in last year’s presidential election.
Behn, a 36-year-old state representative, had raised Democrats’ hopes for a stunning upset in the conservative stronghold after late polling showed her within striking distance of Van Epps and forced a last-minute surge of campaigning from the president and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.).
SNIP
Behn defeated Van Epps by a margin of more than three-to-one in deep-blue Davidson County — where Nashville is located — but the Republican more than made up the difference in the rest of the district, which includes staunchly GOP counties across central Tennessee.
At her own campaign party, Behn — who was dogged by resurfaced comments from a 2020 podcast in which she said “I hate country music” — took the stage in a Western-style rhinestone suit while singing Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5.”
“Tonight isn’t the end. It is the beginning of a next chapter of Tennessee and American politics — one of possibility, one of power and one of progress for the people that we love,” she said.
Democratic National Committee chairman Ken Martin said in a statement that the outcome showed the party is “on offense and Republicans are on the ropes” ahead of next year’s midterm elections.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Dear FRiends,
We need your continuing support to keep FR funded. Your donations are our sole source of funding. No sugar daddies, no advertisers, no paid memberships, no commercial sales, no gimmicks, no tax subsidies. No spam, no pop-ups, no ad trackers.
If you enjoy using FR and agree it's a worthwhile endeavor, please consider making a contribution today:
Click here: to donate by Credit Card
Or here: to donate by PayPal
Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794
Thank you very much and God bless you,
Jim
Ten years ago, this Communist drone would have been lucky to get 25% of the vote. Anyone who did NOT vote against her is a disgrace.
The other thing to consider is the RATs advertised heavily in this race and brought out all their “big guns”.
There was exactly none of that in 2024. No need for them to do so in a safe district in a safe state.
While I’m a tiny bit concerned about the lower margin, this is very good news overall!
Exactly—we need to be “on the ropes” exactly like this in 2026 and 2028.
Imagine the wonderful headline:
“Vance squeaks by in narrow win in 2028 Presidential election. Failed to meet expectations.”
Lol.
A local radio station newscast(CBS) suggested the R candidate just squeaked by. Winning by 10% isn’t squeaking by..
If someone hates Trump, they will vote against the GOP, even if the candidate is a jerk on the Democrat side.
Some of the media are portraying this as a “narrow” victory. 9 points is not a landslide, but it also certainly is not “narrow.”
Still, it was a swing in the Dems’ favor margin wise. But we still have the seat whether the victory is 1 point or 50 points.
This needs to be fully analyzed and worked on for getting better turnout in the midterms.
The media, that is full of Democrat hacks.
so..they already did it twice. Means nothing.
How did the elections go this year in your state?
This is how they lie. Off year elections never get the votes or percentages of the Presidential election, but they are presenting this information with the insinuation that Trump caused this decline in percentage when it is just a normal condition for off year elections.
The impeachments did not work so then they tried to put him in prison for the rest of his life and they tried to assassinate him twice. I know that 2/3 of the Senate would not convict Trump, but it is all part of the Color Revolution. I wonder what color they picked? I bet it is orange.
I know off year elections usually have poor turnout. But this one had nation wide coverage and even that did not seem to matter.
The Spamburger debacle was not a bell weather event. We had a terrible candidate with TDS like you, you cynical bastage. Nothing to see there, move along TDS RINO wankers.
This reporter may be the token leftist, certainly hits all the talking points of the Dems right up front.
Van Epps should do better in November 2026 when it's a regular election rather than a special election.
I saw him on TV talking about his father's experiences in Vietnam and his and his brother's experiences in the Afghanistan war--he is lucky to be alive. His brother also went to West Point.
But he does have a pronoun problem. A couple of times he said "my brother and I" when he should have said "my brother and me."
You seem bitter after voting for Spamburger. Cheer up, your candidate won.
No, traitor RINOs like you with TDS WANTED SPAMBOOGER TO WIN.
A better screen name for you would be “MoleHillClimber”.
Glad to see you are in a good mood today.
Yep, well said.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.