[plain talk]

The win is good but the trend is not.

“With 99% of votes counted, Van Epps’ lead was around 9 percentage points. The previous Republican who held the seat won by 21 points last year.”

[OKSooner]

People are wising up to the fact that the good ol’ Republicans are opposed to Trump and his populist agenda, and saying “screw it, I’m just gonna get on with life”.

[chiller]

.."The previous Republican who held the seat won by 21 points last year.”

Greene was a known incumbent, running with Trump at the top of the ballot. Van Epps had neither benefit.

Too early to panic...let's talk in 6 months

[cgbg]

We just need to keep “losing” every race with “narrow” victories “below expectations”—all through 2026 and 2028.

Lol.

[chiller]

and...Turnout was double in ‘24 322K w/Trump vs about 160-70K yesterday.

[MtnClimber]

“With 99% of votes counted, Van Epps’ lead was around 9 percentage points. The previous Republican who held the seat won by 21 points last year.”

The 21% win last year was "Trump Effect" since Trump won by 22%. I did not expect that this year. I thought Van Epps could win by 10% if he did not pull in any swing voters and maybe 15% if he did pull in swing voters. But it seems the swing voters did not show up or were evenly split.

[packrat35]

The previous person was an incumbent, and no one seriously challenged them. This is not a time to worry.