Democrat Aftyn Behn and Republican Matt Van Epps each won contested primaries this month, setting up a proxy clash between Trump and his progressive detractors in the Dec. 7 special election for Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District.
The district’s conservative history and primary voting data still give Republicans a comfortable edge — significantly aided by the GOP’s 2022 decision to redraw Nashville’s heavily Democratic vote into three rural districts, including the 7th. Army surgeon Mark Green, a Trump-aligned conservative, won the seat by almost 70,000 votes in 2024 before abruptly resigning over the summer for a private sector job.
Nashville state rep emerges from crowded field to take party’s nomination for Dec. 2 special election
Before leaving office, Green tapped Van Epps as his preferred replacement, giving the fellow Army veteran a head start on networking and fundraising. A late endorsement from Trump helped Van Epps fend off a credible challenge from state Rep. Jody Barrett, who has consolidated support as a rare Republican voice of opposition to Gov. Bill Lee’s voucher push in the state legislature. A crowded field of Democrats — led by state Reps. Bo Mitchell, Vincent Dixie and Behn, as well as centrist political consultant Darden Copeland — jumped at the unexpected opportunity to run a federal campaign. In the primary race, Democrats vowed to flip the seat as a message to Trump amid highly publicized cuts to federal programs. Protecting rural health care, specifically, emerged as a favorite rallying cry for the opposition party.Â
Van Epps, a West Point graduate and high-ranking Tennessee National Guardsman, has fully adopted the president’s policy agenda and built his political persona around his military credentials. He has been a loyal party bureaucrat while making several logical career steps for someone aspiring to public office. Van Epps spent almost a decade circulating through various posts in Gov. Lee’s administration, interrupted by a few private-sector stints; according to his LinkedIn profile, Van Epps tried briefly to leverage his military and government experience into consulting profit with “Darkhorse Strategy LLC.” In 2024, he also disclosed a financial stake in 38 Ventures LLC, a small influence-peddling outfit also connected to former Tennessee Education Commissioner Penny Schwinn and former Lee chief of staff Blake Harris. Taken together, this political newcomer looks more like a well-connected product of the Tennessee GOP’s own “blob” — the pliable hierarchy inside a partisan government that adopts establishment ideology.
Former Rep. Mark Green’s pick will face off against the Democratic primary winner in December
Trump built support attacking this type of government waste, leading Van Epps to bet against voters’ discernment by copy-pasting the president’s talking points. In the primary, he won every county within the 7th District except two — Hickman and Dickson, Jody Barrett’s home turf — and banked more than $400,000. On Oct. 16, Van Epps credited Tennessee GOP chair Scott Golden with helping “bury the hatchet” in service of party unity — pictured holding a literal hatchet, Van Epps and Golden posed with Barrett and other party figures. So far, Van Epps’ biggest political risk might be a slicked-back coif that might get him confused with maligned California Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom.
In the primary sprint, Behn leaned on her progressive bona fides and organizing experience to draw out the party’s dedicated progressive wing. She has support from local grassroots groups like Planned Parenthood and TIRRC Votes, as well as labor groups like AFL-CIO. To win, she will likely have to expand her popularity beyond tapped-in Davidson County liberals. Mitchell, Dixie and Copeland joined Behn at Fido cafe after her primary win for the Tennessee Democratic Party’s Unity Breakfast, helping inject cash and momentum into the longshot bid under new party chair Rachel Campbell.
Behn, whose folksy selfie-style fundraising ads indicate that she seems to genuinely enjoy the spotlight, will have to find tens of thousands of votes across the massive district. Special elections typically suffer from low turnout, giving an opposition candidate the chance to narrow margins in a vote without Trump’s name on the ballot. Even so, Republicans outvoted Democrats 36,854 to 31,002 on Oct. 7; Behn won only Williamson County outright and performed solidly enough in Nashville and Clarksville to keep a 900-vote lead over runner-up Copeland.
Van Epps has already begun painting Behn as a law-breaking leftist — not hard to do, as Behn describes herself in similar words and picked up a disorderly conduct arrest in 2019 at the Tennessee State Capitol protesting then-Rep. David Byrd’s history of alleged sexual assault. Behn’s Substack has been unusually quiet since her primary win, perhaps a signal that she’s planning a communications pivot. In the meantime, her campaign has leaned on Organizing 101: Knock on doors, make calls and talk to people, a time-tested formula for scoring an upset.
