As Americans were making their final Thanksgiving preparations on Wednesday, a new poll showed a shockingly close race in the special election for Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District on December 2. If Democrats can win in this deep red district – or even come close – it should be setting off major alarm bells for the Republican Party heading into the midterm year.
When former Rep. Mark Green resigned from Congress on July 20, conventional wisdom held that the Republican nominee, West Point graduate and helicopter pilot Matt Van Epps, would easily carry the seat, which is rated as R+10 by the Cook Partisan Voting Index. Green easily won the seat with nearly 60 percent of the vote in 2024.
But the survey from Emerson College and The Hill shows Democrat nominee Aftyn Behn within the margin of error against Van Epps, trailing 46 percent to 48 percent. Behn, whose only real work experience appears to be as a left-wing activist, won election to the Tennessee House of Representatives in 2023. Her left-wing policy stances and progressive diatribes have earned her the nickname “the AOC of Tennessee.”
“Though the district is seen as a red stronghold, Democrats have been pouring money into the race and sending several high-profile surrogates there in hopes of an impressive overperformance following a string of resounding victories elsewhere,” The Hill reports. “The economy was rated the most important issue among respondents at 38 percent, according to the poll, while 15 percent said housing affordability and health care and threats to democracy received 13 percent each.”
The result is all the more shocking given that, on paper, Behn is a terrible candidate who has made several outrageous comments about Tennessee and the people she hopes to represent in Congress.
On a 2020 podcast that resurfaced last week, for instance, Behn said of Nashville, “I hate the city, I hate the bachelorettes, I hate the pedal taverns, I hate country music, I hate all of the things that make Nashville apparently an ‘it’ city to the rest of the country. But I hate it.” The 7th District, which stretches from the Kentucky border southward, includes parts of Nashville.
In a 2019 op-ed for The Tennessean, Behn also wrote that “Tennessee is a racist state, and so is its legislature.” She added that the state is “wild and untamed” and claimed that “racism is in the air we breathe, permeating the State Capitol, codified in the legislation being passed at the detriment of women, communities of color, and the working poor.”
Unsurprisingly, during the summer 2020 riots, Behn loudly championed the “Defund the Police” movement, specifically calling to “dissolve” the Nashville Police Department. Even more alarmingly, she heaped praise on people who “believe burning down a police station is justified.”
Anti-law enforcement hysteria continued to be a theme of Behn’s political career in the state legislature. In May of this year, before announcing her candidacy, Behn went viral for a video showing her following and harassing local police and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents for doing their jobs.
Behn is also on tape condemning women who get married and start families, calling the idea of motherhood the product of a “deeply patriarchal structure.” The 36-year-old Behn, who is childless and unmarried, stated that her therapist “always asks me to transcribe my dreams and the recurring dream I’ve had is standing up in a cafeteria full of women and saying ‘I don’t want children. I want power!’”
Nonetheless, national Democrats clearly smell blood in the water and have been pouring millions of dollars into the race, along with trotting out high-profile national leaders to campaign for Behn. Former Vice President Kamala Harris made an appearance in the district earlier this month. Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin has also hit the campaign trail with Behn.
Clearly taking a cue from the November 4 elections in Virginia and New Jersey, Behn has made her campaign entirely about “affordability,” doing her best to avoid discussion of her long track record of radical left policies and statements. The federal government “has not delivered on their promise of affordability,” Behn said at a recent rally. “And Tennessee is at the epicenter of the affordability crisis.”
If Behn manages to pull off one of the most improbable upsets in decades, it would be a five-alarm fire for Republicans heading into the midterms. The results in New York, Virginia, and New Jersey can in large part be explained by historical trends and the general political makeup of the state. But if a Democrat wins in a district that Republicans won by more than 20 points just one year ago, there is no other explanation than the GOP is in serious trouble.
This would be all the more concerning given that Van Epps is, by all accounts, a solid candidate. He is a veteran who previously served as commissioner of the Tennessee Department of General Services. President Donald Trump has endorsed him, and he has had no major scandals to date.
If Van Epps does pull out a victory, Republicans can breathe a major sigh of relief – but that does not absolve the party from some serious reflection if the result is close. With a razor-slim margin, House Republicans have little room for error if they hope to retain the gavel next November.
Regardless, the closeness of the race has already been a wake-up call. The GOP should heed it.
Shane Harris is the Editor in Chief of AMAC Newsline. You can follow him on X @shaneharris513.
There’s no shortage of anti-american nut jobs who want to transform this great nation into a dystopian society. Their blatantly in your face attitude not even hidden from view is telling. But will the people of Tennessee fall for it? New York elected AOC and now she’s the dems poster child of change?
Glad I don’t live in Tennessee, altho it is a beautiful state, and I PRAY it stays RED! ALL you republicans, get out and VOTE!
As usual, turnout will tell the tale but I doubt that the Dems are motivated enough to overcome a 20% disparity in this deeply Red district.
That said, a close win would have been totally unexpected six months ago and will raise a huge red flag as to what is coming towards us in less than a year.
The one thing Republicans and Conservatives are masters at is being COMPLACENT. They will assume that the Republican candidate is a ‘shoe-in’ and therefore I can be LAZY and not get out and cast my Socialist/Communist STOPPING VOTE.
TENNESSIANS, WAKE THE HELL UP AND GET OUT THERE AND CAST YOUR REPUBLICAN VOTE. (OR YOU’LL WAKE UP THE DAY AFTER AND SAY “WHAT THE HELL JUST HAPPENED. HOW DID SNOTHER SOCIALIST COMMUNIST GET ELECTED IN A RED DISTRICT? DAMN, I SHOULD HAVE VOTED.
I am from Tennessee and lived in Nashville for several years. I have listened to both candidates. I hope that the citizens of Nashville and Davidson County will use their heads.
Conservatives need to be doing some door knocking and making those calls!!! It doesn’t change anything when we stay home and sit on our rears. I am so thankful I live in Florida the best in the US! We worked very hard to get it from a blue to red state and it has paid off well!!
She goes to therapist, that is a big enough red flag that something is not right in the head, she hates Nashville and the family, makes no secret of it. She can’t cope in her private life and she will be coping if elected? Who is kidding whom? If voter is as off as she, they all should live together in the commune happily ever after, build their dream .
I rely on the voters of Tennessee to see through this moneyed candidate. This current democrat party, is not the party of Harry Truman or even John F. Kennedy. Hopefully, I am right about Tennesseans. This character is a joke, and we do not need more jokes in government.
TALK ABOUT A DISGUSTING, EGOTISTIC BEING THAT SHOULD NEVER HAVE A GOVERNMENT POSITION!!! HOW CAN ANYONE IN THEIR RIGHT MIND EVER VOTE FOR THIS POCHIT!!!
As usual democrats are putting out false polls. Special surveillance should be in every precinct!
Is she the same ‘legislator’ that was picked up and tossed on her butt in that viral video in front of the ICE facility? Vote smart TN!
Affordability is ALWAYS going to be a Democrat issue, because it is a euphemism for GOVERNMENT HANDOUTS. Pocket-book/wallet issues tend to push out all others when people answer surveys, and even when they vote.
What too many people even in “red states” want is more freebies, handouts, and subsidies, because the number of people who can find and succeed in middle-income jobs is shrinking and the number of those who can’t and/or won’t is growing.
Low-income jobs cannot support people in the manner to which the media makes them think they should be living. Low-income jobs do not provide enough cash to have all the latest “tech,” a nice home or apartment, a late-model SUV/truck, and sufficient left for medical insurance and “leisure.”
The other issues are more distant, less immediate. We’ve seen that in NJ, NY, and VA — Democrats who promote violence against their political opponents, who are openly anti-Jewish, anti-Christian or even anti-white, who promote sexual perversity even for minors, and whose understanding of economics, national security, and the environment is on par with most 1st graders won elections by promising more hand-outs and subsidies, even when they have no workable proposals to pay for them.
The problems arise out of our corrupt, government-controlled and operated “educational” systems [pre-K through post-grad] and what most of our young people have been programmed to believe for the past three generations. It will take a painful, radical privatization of ALL education and a return to limited, federal government IAW the Constitution as written [not as interpreted by Progressive judges] to turn the country around — something that neither Ronald Reagan nor Donald Trump have so far been able to accomplish.
Mass media telling people lies on a daily basis and the economy taking so long to fix from the 4 year brain dead Biden open border it’s no surprise it was all planned if people don’t wake up we will lose this nation if it’s not to late already deport deport deport turn back to God Almighty and do something about the lies spreading across all news networks is the only way out of this period
Sure sounds like the Democrats have their version of an ideal candidate who has no experience in doing the job they are trying to get elected to but have a whole like of experience being successful on social media platforms which means they are successful in making a whole lot of rhetoric promises that they have no intention of getting done. The problem is that too many people actually believe whatever they are saying
You get what you vote for and deserve. All this touchy, feely and fake word empathy voting is destroying the greatest country that ever has been in this world age. Thanks to communism.
I would venture a guess that since the poll was done by Emerson College, and since most colleges–especially those in Massachusetts–are extremely liberally biased, its results have been skewed to fit the result the liberal “woke” college pollsters wanted. You’ll notice that the “internals” have conveniently been left out of the article. We don’t know how many people were polled, what their party affiliation is, how the questions were worded, etc. As a result, I would give this poll no credence at all. A poll done by an extremely liberal college in Massachusetts regarding an election in a heavily red district in a southern state like Tennessee and they expect us to be intimidated by that. Really?
If the great people of Tennessee elect her. They deserve everting bad that she brings
If she can say those things and have success in Nashville, it would be Nastyville in short order. The problem with Nashville is it is heavily democratic, much like Memphis. She wouldn’t want to live in Memphis so Nashville is her only hope in TN.
The concern voiced in the article is not only valid, but it’s chilling. There are reasons red states and districts are going blue. People vote with their feet. Blue state residents dislike high costs, stifling taxes, rampant unemployment, and declining education standards every bit as much as the rest of us. When confronted by those realities they do exactly what you would do: They move! The problem with that is that they are clueless as to the nature of the problem. Accordingly, when they relocate, they bring the very same values and voting patterns with them that destroyed their previous home, and in short order they replicate the very conditions from which they fled. I don’t know how we fix this other than mandatory economics and public policy classes for displaced liberal refugees, but we all know how well that would go over with leftist judges.
More people need to get involved in their local Party. Don’ let what happened to VA, happen to TN.
There are radical liberals nuts every where just waiting to get into DC so they can destroy our wonderful country and turn it into a Communist hell-hole!! The GOP in all red or purple states need to ramp up their campaigns and let their missions be known. If we fail to keep the majority in Congress, we are done for. This includes the 2028 election for the White House. We must reign-in this economy so it is more affordable. I know we are trying to make up for Biden’s huge inflation, but there are still many everyday products like gasoline and electric prices that are ballooning! We cannot think our trying to save our Democratic Republic will work. Many in this country do not care about freedom and capitalism. They want lower prices….period.
One could hope that Tennesseans are not STUPID enough to vote for someone who views them with disgust! The key, of course, is TURNOUT. Are the Republicans airing commercials showing the qualifications of Van Epps and the lack of any by the dame? Just another empty head like Jazzy Crockett!
Concrete example of why the GOP is under performing
The US has an immigration problem including bringing in criminal illegals. All Donald Trump had to do was have ICE go after the worst of the worst with full power. He would have had the majority solidly behind him and dangerous criminals would either be in jail or deported.
Instead, Trump got caught up in numbers, and ICE also went after the college student who came here as a child or a hardworking landscaper or those picking fruit who did nothing much wrong. ICE went after them hard and it created a lot of bad press for ICE and Trump and the GOP. Worst of all, these ICE resources could have been laser focused on going after the worst of the worst.
If ICE would have stuck to going after the worst of the worst, that alone would have moved the needle several points towards the GOP. Plenty of the worst of the worst are still here. It’s time for a course correction if you ask me.
So what is the GOP doing? Are they pumping money into it to or are they going to wait until it’s too late.
Are Tennessee voter really going to put this blathering, ignorant demagogue in the House? This just isnt the America that we cherish, a democrat hellscape that seeks to turn the country into something unrecognizable, and growing more frightening every year. Democrats are the enemy of the free people, and we truly need to abolish the malignancy that this party of Trump deranged reprobates has become.
I’m as close to being speechless as I can be and still type, I’ve met Mark several times and thought highly of him. And to see this Aftyn Behn even in the running for Mark Green’s seat makes me wonder what is going there. I’m very concerned because I do live in Tennessee and we have been getting better. This person would be like throwing a hand grenade in one of these little E-cars and making a mess that’s good for nobody. Sorry Mark.
There they go again…. Dems throwing millions of dollars at an election. But that’s just what they did in Virginia and New Jersey! Please get out the Conservative Vote in Nashville! Don’t let the Dems repeat their nefarious ways in Tennessee!
I feel that I am missing something.I look at the democrats agenda and it looks to me that they have gone so far left they are getting more inline with the beliefs of marxists maybe even a touch of islam.I can’t believe that people are so far out of touch with what these cults and socialism offer.they all turn people into sheep with government the scary shepherd.Maybe thats what they want,some entity to control their lives,they better wake up,that life is not what it seems.
Tennessee U need to WAKE UP…aoc is a nightmare… Yes I moved after my ‘Nam Vet passed… BUT I still MISS Tennessee
They should take out ads showing her saying those things about hating Nashville and Police.
Heard her saying all the things she hated about Nashville, how she hated the thought of being a mother, how she hated the tourists who come to Nashville and how she hated pretty much everything that is good and loved by most. At least this radical liberals is telling the truth which is a very rare thing. I have grand children in Nashville so I have been there several times lately. We all must do what we can to keep our country in tact and educate people on the horror people who live under hate and Communism. This woman is a sorry example of a human being. Nothing human about her.
I hate hearing this nonsense coming out of her mouth. PEOPLE OF TENNESSEE WAKE UP AND VOTE! Living in Illinois I know every single vote matters. Don’t become Illinois.
Tennessee is not conservative. They love liberalism. They voted for Al Core remember?
For those who still don’t understand, these polls are a psy-op run by the Left (and yes, Fox is among the participants). What they do is make the race look neck-and-neck, so when the Democrats cheat (as they always do) and steal the election (at which they often succeed), they can claim afterward that it was neck-and-neck all along and they just came out on top. And even when proof of the cheating is available, nothing is ever done about it, so they have nothing to lose by cheating.
I don’t want to see Tennessee turn into a liberal hell hole.
When criminals, pervs, alien enemies, demoniacs, and the insane, i.e., Democrats, outnumber decent citizens, this country is destroyed.
Deceived – drank the cool aid and believes leadership is expressed in tantrums and 7th grade class speeches
The democrats create the problems and then they run against it. Because they can’t run on their past policies and believes. Divide and conquer. Like Behn herself said I want power. That is what all of this is about. They kill our soldiers and seditionists are calling for the military to overthrow the government. And they blame Trump. Kelly thinks he did nothing wrong along with these 5 other cohorts. They are the ones riling up those against America and they have the audacity to blame Trump because he ordered them into the cities. For they want lawlessness. They want the power. That is why they defund the police, pamper the criminals and punish the victims. It’s okay to burn down police stations, it’s okay to kill our soldiers in the street. But when George Floyd died of an overdose of Fentanyl they made him a martyr because a white police officer arrested him. This all was to create the atmosphere we live under today in this country. Behn herself said she hates everything and anything about Nashville and the state of Tennessee. And yet she has 46% favorability. Come on people in Tennessee. The economy will get better under Trump not under Behn and the other overthrowers of the government in the democrat party. .
The one truth I came to understand is that the Republican Party does not like to lead. It prefers to follow. Republican Party political winners talk a good story but seldom implement anything as promised. In addition, there are elected Republicans who are rhino-Democrats which betray the Republican goals and objectives. Remember Liz Chaney who condemned innocent people on the Jan 6 Committee resulting in the imprisonment of innocent citizens. Then there is Mitt Romney, Mitch McConnell and other Republicans who act more like narcissists and sociopaths than people who do the right thing. The imaginary enemy is always Donald Trump for everything that goes wrong. Our country needs two new political parties which elect officials who want to do the right thing for the benefit of the country. Personally, I am neither a Republican or a Democrat.
This is AOC 2.0. The conservatives better wake up and smell the coffee. The US Congress doesn’t need 2 AOC .
Does everyone know that Trump does not endorse Buddy Carter and that Buddy Carter is in agreement with Jon Ossoff to take Ga land in northern Ga and let the UN purchase it? I’d rather vote for Reagan Box for senate in Ga to get rid of Ossoff. She does her research and knows her stuff!
RNC should pour as much money as they can in election, you guys don’t want to be come NY
No matter how much Trump accomplishes he’s still a “lame Duck” president. When his term ends, the Trump era is over. The GOP has to get it’s act together – early and look beyond Trump. Trump is Trump, he’s doing a good job but the glory is not going to the GOP, it’s all about Trump. The GOP is simply a tool Trump manipulates to accomplish his goals. There won’t be another Trump as there won’t be another Regan. We need a candidate in their league that the American people can support. If you haven’t notice the race has already started and Trump is not a candidate – we’re already behind.
There are always groups that hold onto despair. The republicans’ job is to show how their policies have failed. There is plenty of evidence of that. Come with receipts and stay in the stronghold!
Hopefully Tennessee is SMARTER THAN nyc…..but the dems/libs/commie/socialists will do ANYTHING, AND I MEAN ANYTHING TO DEFEAT THOSE RUNNING AGAINST THEM.
I have no confidence that the weak Republican Party will awaken as the house burns down.
We need to remember, when Trump stood for hours in bad weather telling how America was being used or invaded, then and now, and everyone listened to every word, for hours. And the people are trying to keep an eye on what’s happening with our U S A and praying, because this is God’s country.
Voters in Tennessee must educate themselves about Socialism. The Truth is not what the lying candidate is saying, it is a fact that rights and money is taken away from the people.
So now all of a sudden there are alarm bells?? This is happening all over the country and this rhetoric is quickly gaining traction and what are we doing about it? What is being done to bring these people down? Wake the hell up, GOP and voters! All I hear from the right is how good things are, and how many victories there have been, MSM is dead, the democrat party is dead, on and on and on. The democrats are winning the battles and the MSM is promoting all of this, and more and more people are buying in to it… Why??
Not only is the swamp not being drained, it is filling up quickly. This time next year all of the proclaimed victories will be gone. Last months elections were just the beginning. The clock is ticking, GOP!!
Need the Republivcans and Independants to vot ein Mass!