Congratulations to GOP Congressman-elect Matt Van Epps and to the citizens of Tennessee's 7th Congressional District. When push came to shove, they chose sanity over stagecraft and common sense over calumny. Despite all the leftist cacophony and media blather surrounding his opponent, Democrat candidate Aftyn Behn, Van Epps managed to rise above the fray and get his message out.
Van Epps was ahead but within the margin of error in the latter stages of the race, but he won by a comfortable margin — or at least, a sizeable enough one to avoid a recount. So, while this special election was by no means a squeaker, for a red state where President Donald Trump won the district by 22 points in 2024, it was too close for comfort and too close for complacency.
Team Sanity and Team Reality won out in the end, but as a precursor to the 2026 midterms, the Republican Party should neither be taking victory laps nor resting on its laurels. Van Epps won in spite of the party, not because of it.
Part 1 of the lesson Republicans must learn: the GOP cannot continue to be cavalier about the value inherent in varied and timely media exposure, strongly articulating a platform over talking points, and then connecting the dots to the issues that matter to their constituencies.
As my RedState colleague Rusty Weiss wrote,
Van Epps, however, won going away. By nearly 9 points. Not the two-point difference being suggested ahead of election day. Democrats wanted a close race so they could claim a participation trophy. To claim they were the ones with momentum and a mandate. But they didn't even get close.
Does this mean Republicans should rest easy heading into the midterms? Of course not.
Read More: Breaking: Winner Declared in TN-07 Special Election
Aftyn Behn Channels Her Inner Nagging Karen During Concession Call to Matt Van Epps
Part 2 of the lesson: There is no such thing as a "safe district." Aftyn Behn was a caboose full of crazy and had a TON of bad opposition against her, which she refused to address. Yet she still got within nine points of a win when, if this was such a reliably red district, Van Epps should have run away with it.
Despite Behn's spoken hatred of Nashville, in Davidson County, Behn ran away with 32,933 of the vote versus Van Epps' 9,135. While Republicans shared and repeated Behn's awful remarks, what did they do to try and reach that segment of voters with facts, listen to their concerns, and offer solutions? Van Epps may have given a preview of why this segment of voters remained untouched in his victory speech.
WATCH:
Running from Trump is how you lose. Running with Trump is how you win. 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/5SJloxwSIW
— Matt Van Epps for Congress (@MattForTN) December 3, 2025
It sounds like someone tried to push Van Epps to be more nuanced and to distance himself from Trump and his policies. I hand it to Van Epps for rejecting this advice and standing 10 toes down on his support for the president's agenda. We have enough squishes in Congress, and no one, especially Southerners, likes them. Van Epps understood that the people of Tennessee voted for President Trump by huge margins, and they expected their representatives to help forward that agenda for their state and the American people.
Part 3 of the lesson: Van Epps was given short shrift when it came to media exposure and opportunities. Trump credits part of his presidential victory to reaching out to Gen Z on the platforms, podcasts, and streaming media where they hang out. The party should have had Van Epps doing media MONTHS before this special election across the spectrum of media, and the Republican stars who came out at the last minute to support his candidacy could have been amplifying Van Epps' media appearances early and often.
More face time and more name recognition mean that more people will pay attention, and that attention may translate to votes. The misfortune of this election is that Aftyn Behn had the media exposure, and it was only because Van Epps needed to get out and challenge her leftist agenda and progressive concepts that we were even able to hear and know him as a candidate.
Sadly, Van Epps was thrust into the sea of crazy without a life preserver. But he exhibited his quality in rising to the top and winning the day.
‘We’re not worried’
— The Story (@TheStoryFNC) November 28, 2025
WATCH: Republican Tennessee congressional candidate @matt4tn encourages voters to hit the polls in closely-watched Special Election race against Democrat @aftynfortn pic.twitter.com/bVRZxXv7CD
It's Election Day in Tennessee, where Republican Matt Van Epps is trying to keep a House seat red in the special election to fill former Rep. Mark Green's seat.@MattForTN says her policies "will not be good for Tennessee or for America." pic.twitter.com/6D3RD3JNp7
— FOX & Friends (@foxandfriends) December 2, 2025
You could tell with each additional appearance by Van Epps that he became more comfortable with articulating his platform and addressing Tennesseans. The Republican Party is fortunate that Van Epps was a quality candidate as well as a quick study — but time, exposure, and the opportunity to hammer home one's platform, as well as gain comfortability on a larger stage, is an essential part of not just gaining voter recognition, but achieving a modicum of their trust.
While this was a special election with shorter windows and less ground time, Republicans have NO excuse heading into the 2026 midterms. The time to queue their incumbent and competitor candidates on all forms of media was yesterday, and if there is media out there that strengthens the candidacy, it needs to be put into digestible sound bites and promoted by the party elders.
Part 4 of this lesson: Aftyn Behn and candidates like her are not going away. The Democrat Socialist radicals are the new face of the party, and will become more and more emboldened with each election — especially if Republicans keep thinking districts are safe and rattle off agenda items, rather than speak plainly to the heart of what matters to voters.
These progressive candidates know how to animate and rally their base, but many Republicans still haven't gotten that part down. While Democrats floss, fluff, and rouse their base into action, the GOP latches on to victories like the one in TN-07 and slips into complacency mode rather than a work mode which fights for every vote — especially the votes that they are conditioned to think they cannot win.
She knows her audience and the people who support her vacuous message.
— Jennifer Oliver O'Connell (@asthegirlturns) November 26, 2025
Does @matt4tn?
Here's my take: If Van Epps does manage to eke out a win, then the Republicans will continue to be complacent about actually campaigning and speaking to issues that matter to their… https://t.co/C5OLbrsgXh
She knows her audience and the people who support her vacuous message.
Does @matt4tn?
Here's my take: If Van Epps does manage to eke out a win, then the Republicans will continue to be complacent about actually campaigning and speaking to issues that matter to their constituencies.
If he loses, Democrat Socialists will become even more emboldened to push these candidates who are terrible, but they know how to market and rally their base, as well as lull the @GOP into a complacent slumber where they do not fight for every vote.
Neither option is good. There are lessons to be learned here. Will they be heeded before it's too late?
So many lessons, so little time. With 335 days until the midterms, the GOP should heed them and launch into action. If not, expect to be taken to the cleaners and lose the majorities in the House and Senate.
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