President Donald Trump celebrated after Republican Matt Van Epps defeated Democrat Aftyn Behn in the special election for Tennessee's 7th District House seat Tuesday (December 2) night.
Van Epps, a former Army helicopter pilot who received Trump's public endorsement, led Behn, a state representative, by 8.9 percentage points with 99% of the expected vote in, which was still 22 points less than Trump's victory in the historically conservative region during the 2024 presidential election.
“Congratulations to Matt Van Epps on his BIG Congressional WIN in the Great State of Tennessee,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “The Radical Left Democrats threw everything at him, including Millions of Dollars.
“Another great night for the Republican Party!!! President DJT.”
Van Epps specifically mentioned Trump during his victory party Tuesday night.
“Politicians who run from the president or abandon the common-sense policies that the American people gave us a resounding mandate on do so at their own peril,” he said via the New York Post. “No matter what the DC insiders or liberal media say, this is President Trump’s party. I’m proud to be a part of it and can’t wait to get to work.”
Behn defeated Van Epps by a more than three-to-one margin in Davidson County, where Nashville is located, but lost in the neighboring rural counties that comprised the rest of the district. The state representative became the target of Trump and the GOP in recent weeks as polls showed her within striking distance of Van Epps, with a focus on her comments made during a 2020 podcast in which she bashed several factors of Nashville's spike in tourism.
“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,” Behn said via the New York Post.