The contentious primaries in the 7th congressional district special election have ended with nominees Matt Van Epps (R) and Aftyn Behn (D) moving to the December 2 general election. While that battle continues, it is not too early to look towards what happens next as the 2026 elections loom on the horizon.
Several big races are already set for next year, with August primaries and a November general election date being the path to a new governor, and Senator Bill Hagerty seeking reelection to another six-year term.
Yet, these important statewide races have yet to see any formidable Democrats emerging. Hagerty is essentially unopposed and should breeze to reelection. There is not even the whisper of a significant Democrat rising to challenge him in the general election.
Similarly, although Republicans have Senator Marsha Blackburn, Congressman John Rose, and State Representative Monty Fritts seeking their nomination, there is no Democrat with any prospect of winning statewide even being discussed. The general election next November is fast approaching, in political terms, so for Democrats in Tennessee the “put up or shut up” deadline is close as well.
The reluctance of Democrats to jump into these statewide races as “sacrificial lambs” is certainly understandable. Eight years ago, the Democrats put up seemingly strong and well funded candidates in former Governor Phil Bredesen, who challenged Marsha Blackburn, and former Nashville Mayor Karl Dean, who faced Republican nominee Bill Lee in the Governor’s race. Blackburn and Lee each bested their Democrat rivals by double digits.
At this point, no Democrat in 2026 appears to come close to the credibility or the funding to improve on what Bredesen and Dean were unable to accomplish. More importantly, they were both much more reasonable and moderate than the current Democrats in Washington or Nashville who keep pushing an extremist liberal agenda that the voters are consistently rejecting.
Boys in girls locker rooms? Protests against law enforcement and safer communities in Washington, Memphis, Chicago, etc? Shutting down the federal government to force the funding for medical expenses for illegals? Promoting transgender surgeries and gay drag shows to elementary school kids? Nude bike riding protests in Portland, Oregon? Check. Check. Check. Check. Check. Check.
Democrats in the Tennessee legislature have been voted into super-minority status by Tennesseans across the state. Democrats nationally have let the radical wing of their party become the driving force and face of that party. From AOC and the Squad, to Jasmine Crockett, to NYC Mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, and others Democrats have moved so far out of the mainstream that they can’t even see the water from where they are! Democrats in Tennessee have followed the same path into political irrelevance.
Aftyn Behn, who has bragged and laughed on videotape about bullying and interfering with law enforcement, has been dubbed the “AOC of Tennessee.” She is the Democrat nominee for Congress in the 7th District and will draw intense national media attention over the next several weeks as the radical left face of Tennessee Democrats. Common sense Democrats in Tennessee, to the extent there are a few left, will cringe, but she will love every moment of the attention she draws.
The other two most prominent faces of Democrats in Tennessee are the Justin’s: Justin Pearson and Justin Jones. Their sole claims to fame as “community activists”, both before and after being elected to the Tennessee House of Representatives from Memphis and Nashville, respectively, are having been kicked out of the House for disrupting and violating the rules. (They were both quickly reappointed to their positions by local officials who prefer circus-type theater to any actual legislative accomplishments.) Although neither can point to any legislative benefits for their constituents, they have achieved their real goals: a lot of social media “clicks”, frequent interviews with liberal national TV hosts who stroke their egos, and a large political war chest that benefits only them rather than their fellow Democrats.
Jones loves the limelight. So does Pearson, who is now challenging incumbent Democrat Steve Cohen in Memphis. Like Behn, he will draw a lot of National attention to his race. Unlike Behn, he may actually win in the Democratic primary, in an overwhelmingly Democratic district.
At some point, rational Democrats in Tennessee may realize that all of the sound and fury from these far-left self-promoters has left them in a perpetual political wasteland. No prospects in statewide races. Super- minority status in the House and Senate, with no real beachhead to fight back to political relevance. Relegated to governing a few high-crime, economically challenged, and poor-performing urban centers in the state, begging for scraps and relevance. Can they build back some degree of political power, or at least influence? Possibly. But not as long as the only voices Tennessee voters hear from Democrats are the screeching nails on a chalkboard provided by the attention-grabbing but results-deficient community activists who outshout whatever voices of reason might remain.
Steve Gill is editor and publisher of TriStar Daily.
