Despite the Democrats spending millions of dollars in the 7th District special election for Congress, Republican Matt Van Epps kept the seat in GOP hands by a rather comfortable margin of 9 points. Cook Political Report has the 14 county district rated as a +10 Republican margin. Although early voting flowed into Thanksgiving week and satellite voting locations in the more “red” rural portions of the 7th were severely limited, Van Epps victory margin fit the composition of the district pretty well. The nearly 16,000 vote margin is also pretty impressive.

President Trump carried the district by a 22 point margin last November. But Trump was running against a very poor candidate in Kamala Harris and the Democrats spent virtually no time or money in Tennessee. If the Democrats try to unseat Van Epps next November, his margin will likely be in the high teens, possibly double the margin he just earned against Aftyn Behn.

As expected, the Democrats and their lackeys in the media are reporting the 9 point margin as a “narrow” victory. It is being termed as “over-performance” by Behn and a sign of trouble for President Trump and the Republicans heading into the midterms. But despite the tortured spin from the Left, the margin in a special election, still reflected the political tilt of the district pretty accurately. 

For her part, Behn says she called she called congressman-elect Matt Van Epps to ask “what will define what happens next.” It appears she was channeling a Kamala Harris’ type word salad that literally made no sense. She was also wearing what seemed to be a country music style costume, perhaps intended to make up for her stated hatred of Nashville and country music. In any event, the political future for Behn, the “AOC of Tennessee”, outside the dark blue confines of Nashville seem to be very limited. 

GOP WHO’S WHO GATHERED TO CELEBRATE
The Van Epps victory party at the Millennium Maxwell House Hotel drew a number of GOP political leaders, including Governor Bill Lee,State GOP Chair Scott Golden, Agriculture Commissioner Andy Holt, Finance and Administration Commissioner Jim Bryson, State Senators Kerry Roberts and Bill Powers (both of whom represent portions of the district), Sumner County State Rep. Johnny Garrett, and a few of Van Epps’ former primary opponents including Stuart Cooper, Mason Foley, and Tres Wittum.

BREAKING DOWN THE NUMBERS
Behn’s team worked Davidson County hard, both during early voting and on election day. The results were impressive. Her 20,000 vote margin, 32,933 to 9,135, however, was not enough to overcome the eleven Republican vote-rich rural counties.

Van Epps narrowly carried Montgomery County, 22,994 to 19,548. However, his 16,886 to 10,608 win in Williamson County sealed the deal even without the rural counties weighing in. (Only a portion of Williamson County is included in the seventh district.)

ABOUT THAT WELL-PUBLICIZED EMERSON COLLEGE POLL…
Democrats aggressively promoted an Emerson College poll showing Behn within two points of Van Epps as evidence that they were within striking distance of a major upset. But buried deep in the cross tabs of the poll was the revelation that those polled voted in 2024 in favor of Donald Trump over Kamala Harris by a 13 point margin. Trump beat Harris by 22 points in the District last November, not 13! So, basically Emerson College tweaked the poll in favor of Democrats by about a 9 point margin just to make the race look closer than it was. The bogus poll generated buzz and perhaps a lot more donations for Behn, which was clearly the purpose.

Steve Gill is editor and publisher of TriStar Daily