Matt Van Epps Defeats Aftyn Behn, Holds Tennessee House Seat for Republicans

Republican Matt Van Epps won the Dec. 2 special election for Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District, defeating Democratic state Rep. Aftyn Behn and holding the seat for the GOP.

“Republican Matt Van Epps won anationally watched special electionin Tennessee for a seat in the U”

AL

Multiple outlets recorded similar outcomes but reported slightly different margins.

AL

WSMV wrote Van Epps won with about 54% of the vote (over 96,000 votes).

Al Jazeera reported a 53.9%–45% result with roughly 96% of votes counted.

NTD News put the winner at 53.2%.

The seat was left open after Rep. Mark Green resigned in July, and reporters noted Van Epps will fill that vacancy.

The result was notable because the district long has been considered safely Republican, making the narrower margin and the campaign's intensity a focus of national attention.

Several outlets stressed the district's GOP history, with Times Now and other U.S. coverage calling it 'one of the country's safest GOP seats' and noting that Donald Trump carried it by wide margins in 2024, yet the race tightened compared with previous cycles.

Al Jazeera

The BBC and Forbes described the final margin as roughly a nine-point win for Van Epps and framed the contest as a test of Democratic momentum heading into 2026.

Observers also highlighted unusually high special-election turnout and Democratic overperformance in some counties.

Both campaigns and outside groups poured resources into a race that became a proxy fight over national issues, but outlets diverged on which themes mattered most.

“Republican Matt Van Epps won a nationally watched special election in Tennessee for a U”

AP News

Reporting showed heavy pro-Trump spending and endorsements, with Forbes and the New York Post citing more than $1 million from Trump-aligned groups and a late Trump promotion.

Democratic groups including House Majority PAC and national surrogates invested heavily for Behn.

Local coverage emphasized cost-of-living and health-care messaging that dominated the final weeks.

WPLN and NOTUS noted Van Epps pivoted to affordability and jobs while Behn ran on health care, affordability, and ending Tennessee’s grocery tax.

Campaign attacks on Behn’s past remarks and on immigration and LGBTQ+ themes also featured in coverage.

Political leaders and media outlets read different implications from the result for control of the U.S. House.

Some sources presented the outcome as simply preserving the GOP’s narrow House majority, with Al Jazeera reporting it as 219–213.

BBC

Other outlets framed the outcome as increasing or preserving Speaker Mike Johnson’s margin, with Times Now and the New York Post citing a 220–213 Republican edge.

Democrats and progressive outlets emphasized the closer margin as a warning sign about Republican vulnerability heading into the 2026 midterms.

The divergence in how outlets described post-election House arithmetic and political takeaways highlights different counting conventions and narrative emphasis across sources.

Local and human‑interest coverage described how campaign dynamics and messaging played out on the ground.

“Updated on: December 2, 2025 / 10:15 PM EST/ CBS/AP Republicans will hold ontoTennessee's 7th Congressional Districtdespite a push by Democrats to flip the deep-red seat, the Associated Press projected Tuesday, as Republican candidate Matt Van Epps is on track to defeat Democrat Aftyn Behn”

CBS News

PennLive highlighted a virtual rally by Representative Alexandria Ocasio‑Cortez for Behn and included local voter anecdotes about how attacks on Behn’s past remarks swayed some voters.

CBS News

WPLN and NBC noted that Democrats overperformed in specific counties but that Election Day ballots ultimately favored Republicans.

Van Epps, a combat veteran and former state official, portrayed the result as proof that voters wanted leaders aligned with former President Trump.

Behn framed the close race as energizing progressives in Tennessee and across the South.

These differing emphases—national endorsements and outside spending versus grassroots organizing and local issue appeals—show how the type of source shaped which aspects of the campaign each outlet highlighted.