President Donald Trump’s endorsement of Matt Van Epps in the special election in Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District was intended to help Epps secure a primary win, despite low turnout during early voting.
However, the reaction of grassroots conservatives in the district, particularly in the rural portions of the 14-county district, may indicate the conservative Jody Barrett may still win.
Anti-Trump billionaires have spent heavily supporting Van Epps. The Club for Growth also hit Barrett hard for his opposition to their Voucher plan, which Governor Bill Lee, who endorsed Van Epps, had passed by the Tennessee legislature earlier this year. Lee’s plan is increasingly drawing fire for funding Muslim schools in Tennessee.
Barrett has also had some PAC support, including House Freedom Action (HFA), tied to the House Freedom Caucus, that has tagged Van Epps as “Tennessee’s Fauci” for his role in leading Lee’s COVID response team. HFA also slammed Van Epps for his silence on pro-life and trans issues.
The social media response to the Trump endorsement appears to have energized Barrett’s base. Conservatives posting online continue to call Van Epps a RINO (Republican in Name Only) and are very critical of Trump‘s decision to support him.
Over 18,000 votes have been locked in during early voting in the GOP Primary. With next Tuesday’s primary Election Day coming as 9 of the 14 counties in the district are on Fall break, Barrett may benefit from likely continued low voter turnout where only the most activated voters are expected to turn out. Several polls indicate that Barrett had a slight lead going into the final day of early voting, which may have precipitated Trump‘s endorsement. Still, it is difficult to gauge whether grassroots OUTrage translates to last minute turnOUT.
And the Stewart Parks team continues to believe their “sub rosa” targeted efforts remain on track for an upset. While several candidates have sidelined their campaigns since Friday, Parks has made it clear that he is “running through the tape.”
Steve Gill is editor and Publisher of TriStar Daily.
