The Tennessee General Assembly adjourned in April, but at least five sitting representatives — state Reps. Jody Barrett, Aftyn Behn, Vincent Dixie, Bo Mitchell and Lee Reeves — are eager for more politicking. All five, as well as former House Rep. Brandon Ogles, have jumped into the race to be Tennessee’s newest member of Congress, vying for a seat left open by the abrupt retirement of Republican U.S. Rep. Mark Green, a close Trump ally and former U.S. Army surgeon. Just nine months ago, Green won the district over former Nashville Mayor Megan Barry by nearly 70,000 votes.
Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District includes downtown Nashville and neighborhoods inside the I-440 loop as well as Clarksville, Dickson and rural counties stretching all the way to the Tennessee-Alabama border outside Waynesboro. It is one of three seats resulting from state Republicans’ redraw of Nashville into parts of three congressional districts following the 2020 Census. Green previously announced his retirement from Congress in February 2024 before changing his mind after conversations with top GOP officials, including Trump, who nominated Green for secretary of the Army in his first term.
Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District representative to start company 'to help America compete against the Chinese Communist Party'
His resignation, effective July 20, sets into motion a compressed timeline for party primaries and an off-cycle special election likely to capture national attention less than a year into Trump’s tumultuous second presidential term. State and federal guidelines around vacancies and special elections are a tangle of timelines, statutes and exceptions. Gov. Bill Lee sets off the process within 10 days of Green’s official departure, followed by a primary period and a general election that will likely fall in late 2025.
Word of Green’s abrupt departure began circulating a few weeks before the official June release from his congressional office. Political insiders say Green spent the preceding weeks lining up former state executive Matt Van Epps as his successor — Van Epps, a combat veteran squarely behind the Trump agenda, moved quickly, filing paperwork on June 13 with support from a hired political firm. Green officially endorsed Van Epps on Monday, calling him “exactly the kind of leader the 7th District wants as its voice in Washington.”
Green’s announcement caught Democrats Dixie and Mitchell on vacation, but both were quick to verbally confirm interest in the seat, which overlaps with their longtime state House districts. Mitchell’s paperwork came in on July 7 and Dixie’s on July 9. Dixie has won four consecutive terms in the state House representing parts of Bordeaux and Madison, but his formal campaign for Congress has not yet taken shape.
Nashville Democrats eye seat left vacant by Republican Mark Green’s surprise retirement
Mitchell’s run for Congress follows a steady pattern of political ascension. The Nashville Democrat was elected twice to represent Bellevue as a Metro councilmember before making a run for the state legislature in 2012. Mitchell’s campaign texts have already started pinging Davidson County phones, highlighting his commitment to protecting rural health care access.
Behn, a progressive Democrat elected to the state legislature in a 2023 special election after the death of Rep. Bill Beck, hit the same health care talking points on a Zoom call with constituents the day before she announced her campaign.
“The impacts are going to be awful — nine rural hospitals are at risk of closing in Tennessee, we’re expecting one in four nursing homes to close,” Behn said, explaining the expected impacts of the federal “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” recently passed by Republicans. “There will be cuts to [the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program], and we’ve already seen the rollback of summer meals. This is going to be really devastating.”
On the call, Behn — the youngest of the group, with a background in advocacy with the Tennessee Justice Center and Indivisible — framed political organizing against the national GOP agenda as a way to channel the “palpable rage” she wakes up with “every day.”
Democratic state House rep joins Mitchell, Reeves and others in race to succeed retiring Mark Green
Republican Barrett has spent more than two decades deeply involved in Dickson civic life and first won a seat in the state House in 2022. Barrett was outspoken against Gov. Lee’s voucher program during this legislative session, criticizing the steep fiscal burden that a growing number of private school scholarships would place on future budgets. He firmly supports the political agenda set by the national GOP and heaps praise on the Trump administration.
“I promise to take that same Tennessee toughness to Washington to stand with President Trump and fight the liberal elites trying to destroy our way of life,” Barrett said in his campaign announcement. “I didn’t come from money or power, and I’ve never been impressed by either. I’ve always put Tennessee First, America First, and I always will.”
Less than a year after eking out the Republican primary in House District 65 by 97 votes, freshman legislator Lee Reeves will vie for the congressional seat. Educated at Emory and Georgetown Law School, Reeves blazed an ambitious path into Tennessee politics with the help of pro-voucher PAC money, replacing moderate Sam Whitson in a Williamson County district that includes Leiper’s Fork and Fairview.
A handful of other Republicans are also interested in the seat: veteran and Montgomery County Commissioner Jason Knight, as well as fellow veterans Jon Thorp and John Wilt, and now-pardoned Jan. 6 insurrectionist Stewart Parks. Barrett, Van Epps, Knight, Parks and Wilt all appeared at a forum Thursday hosted by the Benton County Republican Party at the Birdsong Resort and Marina in Camden.
At the event, both Barrett and Van Epps framed themselves as “America-first” conservatives, while Knight promised he “will be exactly as hard on border security as Mark Green has.” Parks focused his comments on “the Biden reign of terror with the transgenderism and the political persecutions,” while Wilt spoke about “the radical left and the Democratic Party supporting jihadis, supporting intifada around the world, supporting Hamas and supporting the communists for the mayor of New York City.”
Meanwhile, several Democrats pitched their platforms during the state party’s Three Star Dinner at Nashville’s Music City Center on Saturday. Those included Behn, Dixie and Mitchell, along with Davidson County Assistant District Attorney David Jones (also a Belmont professor) as well as Darden Copeland, founder and managing director of the public affairs firm Calvert Street Group. Copeland touted his experience working with numerous Democratic campaigns and party leaders like former Democratic National Committee Chair Donna Brazile.
Hamilton Matthew Masters contributed reporting.
