Live Results: Special election for Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District

WASHINGTON (AP) — Less than a month after Democrats notched a string of victories over Republicans in the Nov. 4 general election, the next test on the ballot for both parties heading into the 2026 midterm season will be Tuesday in a special congressional election in Tennessee on normally reliable GOP turf.

House Republicans are looking to take the seat in Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District and consolidate their narrow 219-213 lead in the chamber. Democrats hope to extend their winning streak by pulling off an upset in Middle Tennessee, where Donald Trump and other GOP candidates routinely win about 60% of the vote.

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Republican Matt Van Eps and Democrat Aftin Behn are the candidates to replace former Republican Rep. Mark Green, who resigned in July to join the private sector.

Van Epps is a West Point graduate and former Army helicopter pilot who headed the Tennessee Department of General Services under Republican Gov. Bill Lee. With the endorsements of both Trump and Greene, he easily won the October special primary against 10 opponents.

Behn is a state representative elected for the first time in a 2023 special election. She narrowly won a four-way Democratic primary that included two other state representatives and a well-funded local businessman. Some state Democrats have described Behn, a former political organizer and progressive activist, as “our AOC in Tennessee,” referring to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York. Prominent Van Epps supporters frequently repeated the nickname in support of the Republican nominee.

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As the last high-profile partisan contest of the year, the race has attracted the attention of national political figures. Trump phoned in a teleconference rally for Van Epps on November 13 as early voting began. His 2024 presidential rival, then-Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris, appeared at a Nov. 18 event in Nashville to encourage Democratic turnout in the special election.

As a result, spending ballooned. Heading into the October primary, Van Epps had spent more than $348,000 and had about $54,000 in the bank. Behn spent more than $168,000 before the primary and had about $20,000 in the bank. As of mid-November, according to pre-election Federal Election Commission filings, Van Eps had raised an additional $590,000, compared to about $1 million for Behn.

Most residents of the 7th District have elected only Republicans to Congress for more than a dozen years. The district also includes parts of heavily Democratic Davidson County, which includes Nashville. The Nashville area once served as a separate congressional district favorable to Democrats, but state Republicans redrew the lines in 2022 and split Davidson County between the 7th District and two neighboring Republican-friendly districts.

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Trump won the 7th District in 2024 with about 60% of the vote, compared with about 38% for Harris. In the Davidson County portion of the district, Harris received nearly 68% of the vote, which makes up about 22% of the total vote in the district. Trump won each of the remaining 13 counties with at least 59% of the vote.

Green was elected twice each within the old and new district boundaries. Under the old system, he received between 67% and 70% of the vote. His margin of victory narrowed after new lines were drawn in 2022, as he won 60% of the votes in 2022 and 2024.

The contest marks the fifth special election this year to fill a vacant seat in Congress. An additional vacant seat in the heavily Democratic Houston district of Texas will be filled in a runoff on January 31, 2026, while a recently vacated seat in northern New Jersey held by Democratic Gov.-elect Mickey Sherrill will be filled next April.

The Associated Press does not provide projections, and will declare a winner only when it is determined that no scenario exists that would allow the late nominees to close the gap. If the race is not called, the AP will continue to cover any newsworthy developments, such as candidate concessions or announcements of victory. In doing so, the AP will make clear that it has not yet announced a winner and explain why.

In Tennessee, recounts are only done as part of a legal challenge in the courts. There are no automatic recounts, and losing candidates may not request a recount. The AP may declare a winner in a race subject to a recount if it can determine that the lead is so large that a recount or legal challenge cannot change the outcome.

Here’s a look at what to expect on Tuesday.

Special election day

The special election in Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District will be held on Tuesday. Polls in the area close at 7 p.m. local time, which is 8 p.m. Eastern time. Although Tennessee is in two time zones, the seventh is entirely within the Central Time Zone.

What’s on the ballot?

The AP will present the voting results and announce the winner of the special congressional election.

Who is entitled to vote?

Any registered voter in the 7th Congressional District may participate in the special election.

What does turnout and advance voting look like?

There were approximately 466,000 registered voters in the 7th Congressional District in the November 2024 general election. Turnout in the congressional race was about 69% of registered voters in the 2024 presidential election year, and about 41% in the 2022 midterm elections.

Of the 14 counties located either fully or partially within the 7th District, approximately 73% of 2024 general election votes were cast early in person or absentee. About 51% of the votes in these 14 counties were cast early or absentee in the 2022 midterm elections.

As of Nov. 26, the last day of early voting, just over 84,000 votes have been cast before the special election.

How long does the vote counting process usually take?

Votes were quickly counted in the special primary held on October 7. The Associated Press first reported the results of the Democratic and Republican primaries at about 8:05 p.m. ET from Perry County, about five minutes after the polls closed. Vote counting in both contests was completed at 10:28 PM ET with a final voting update from Humphreys County.

In the 2024 general election, the AP first reported the results of the 7th District congressional race at 8:03 PM ET from Perry County. Election Night tabulation ended at 12:36 a.m. ET, with more than 99% of the total votes counted.

Are we there yet?

As of Tuesday, there will be 336 days until the 2026 midterm elections.

-Robert Yuen, Associated Press