Republican Matt Van Epps won a special election for the Tennessee House of Representatives

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

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Republican Matt Van Epps has won a nationally watched special election in Tennessee for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, maintaining his party’s grip on the district with the help of President Donald Trump.

Van Epps, a military veteran and former state Public Service Commissioner from Nashville, defeated Democratic state Rep. Aftin Behn to represent the 7th Congressional District.

Read more: 3 reasons to watch Tennessee’s special election

Van Epps benefited from more than $1 million in spending from MAGA Inc. It was the first time a super PAC supporting Trump had spent money on a campaign since last year’s presidential race, reflecting the great importance of the special election.

House Speaker Mike Johnson and GOP Chairman Joe Gruters rallied supporters in Tennessee on Monday. Trump addressed a crowd at a state rally by telephone, and later in the day held a rally by telephone for Van Epps, his second general election campaign.

Republicans entered Election Day hoping to thwart Democratic claims that even red districts are now influential as Trump struggles with declining approval ratings and lingering economic discontent.

Democrats recently won by large margins in New Jersey, Virginia and elsewhere, and they hoped a strong showing in Tennessee would embolden the party ahead of next November’s midterm elections.

Republican state lawmakers redrew the 7th District and two other districts in 2022 to help prevent liberal-voting Nashville from electing another Democrat to Congress. The city has only about 1 in 5 voters in the 14-county district.

Former Republican Rep. Mark Green, who retired this summer, was re-elected to open the vacancy, by 21 percentage points in 2024, when Trump won by a similar margin.

The single-race election came at an odd time to cast ballots, with early voting ending the day before Thanksgiving and Election Day the following Tuesday.

The House Majority PAC put $1 million behind Behn. NDP Leader Ken Martin visited to campaign for Behn, and former Vice President Kamala Harris participated in a canvassing campaign kickoff while in Nashville on a book tour. Former Vice President Al Gore and US Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez led a virtual rally for her on Monday.

Van Epps aimed to be as aligned with Trump as possible, telling him during a television rally in November: “I will support you 100 percent.” He won a crowded primary by a wide margin in October with a late endorsement from Trump.

Behn has focused her campaign on harsh criticism of economic policies that she said prioritize the wealthy and corporations, including Trump’s tariffs and the Budget and Spending Act, both of which Van Epps supports.

But Republicans have created a steady drumbeat of Behn’s words being used against her in TV ads, such as when she described herself as an “extremist” and made harsh remarks about Nashville and its tourist attractions.