President Donald Trump threw his weight behind Republican congressional candidate Matt Van Epps on Monday, calling into a Nashville rally for the particular election that has grown uncomfortably tight for the GOP.
“The entire world is watching Tennessee proper now, and so they’re watching the district,” Trump mentioned, talking by a cellphone held to a microphone by Home Speaker Mike Johnson. “It’s gotta present that the Republican Celebration is stronger than it’s ever been. We’ve got an even bigger, stronger get together than we’ve ever had. We’ve got extra members of the Republican Celebration than we’ve ever had, and we love Tennessee.”
The spectacle underscored simply how rattled Republicans have grow to be in what needs to be a reliably conservative seat. Johnson, who flew in from Washington early Monday, forged the race as an early check for the get together.
“We predict what’s going to occur right here might be a bellwether for the midterms subsequent yr,” he instructed reporters.
Because the New York Instances reported, a lot of the rally centered much less on Van Epps—an Military veteran and former state commissioner—than on the stakes for the GOP’s razor-thin Home majority.
Johnson didn’t mince phrases about Democrat Aftyn Behn, calling her “a harmful far leftist” who could be a “rubber stamp” for Minority Chief Hakeem Jeffries and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York.
The particular election will fill the seat left vacant by former Rep. Mark Inexperienced, a Republican who resigned in July for a private-sector job. Tennessee’s seventh District, which spans elements of Nashville and stretches throughout rural counties, has reliably voted Republican for greater than a decade. However Democrats see an opportunity to overperform after sturdy off-year election outcomes in November.
Trump carried the district by 22% in 2024, however a latest Emerson Faculty ballot reveals Van Epps main Behn by simply 2%. The tightening margin comes as Trump’s personal numbers slip: a latest Gallup survey positioned his approval ranking at 36%, the bottom of his second time period up to now.
Behn, a state consultant and former progressive organizer, has constructed her marketing campaign round affordability and Washington fatigue, echoing the message that powered Democrats’ November victories in Virginia and New Jersey.
Van Epps, a West Level graduate and former Military helicopter pilot, has pitched himself as a gentle conservative aligned with Trump. He gained a crowded 11-way major in October and has leaned closely into cost-cutting themes.
Nationwide consideration has turned the race right into a proxy combat, with Trump holding a digital rally for Van Epps in November. And former Vice President Kamala Harris appeared in Nashville on Nov. 18 to rally voters for Behn, whereas Ocasio-Cortez is reportedly going to headline a digital rally of her personal.
And the promoting blitz displays the excessive stakes. GOP-backed spots largely keep away from mentioning Trump and as an alternative hammer Behn as too liberal for the district. A Trump-aligned tremendous PAC resurfaced outdated clips of her calling herself “a really radical individual,” which she says was taken out of context.
Democratic adverts, in the meantime, tie Van Epps to Trump and spotlight his place on the Epstein information.
“The Epstein information are locked away. Matt Van Epps will preserve ‘em that manner,” one latest spot warned.
Fundraising has tilted towards Behn, who pulled in roughly $1.2 million by mid-November, whereas Van Epps introduced in about $992,000, in keeping with FEC filings.
Each events now see the race as an early check of the nationwide temper. For Republicans, a stumble in a district that needs to be safely purple would deepen issues about their capacity to carry a precarious Home majority and lift contemporary questions concerning the sturdiness of Trump’s affect.
As votes are set to be counted Tuesday, the competition gives an early learn on the place the political winds could blow in 2026—and whether or not Trump’s backing continues to be sufficient to maintain purple districts purple.
