Republican Matt Van Epps will fill Tennessee’s open 7th District Congressional seat, in the last showdown election of 2025.

Early results are showing 36-year-old liberal state Rep. Democrat Aftyn Behn with an early lead over Republican U.S. Army combat veteran Matt Van Epps in the special election for Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District — a stunning development in the area considered safe Republican just a few weeks ago.

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Republican Matt Van Epps has won the special US House election for Tennessee’s 7th District, preventing an upset but emboldening Democrats as they were on track to over-perform in a normally deep-red district.

Matt Van Epps, who was backed by Trump, is projected to defeat Democrat Aftyn Behn in a congressional district the president won by 22 percentage points in 2024.

President Donald Trump and top Republicans are making a last-ditch push to prevent embarrassment in a hotly contested Tennessee special election for Congress

Tennessee's special election in District 7 to replace U.S. Rep. Mark Green has elected a winner, but not quite how Republicans imagined.