After last month’s predictable Democrat wins in New York City, New Jersey, and Virginia, the corporate “news” media immediately began cranking out stories about the “great MAGA crack-up.” This was absurd but, considering the source, to be expected.
Even more ridiculous has been the response to the decisive Democrat loss in Tuesday’s special election to replace retired Tennessee Congressman Mark Green. Republican Matt Van Epps defeated Democrat Aftyn Behn by nine points, yet the media insists his victory somehow spells doom for the GOP.
CNN, for example, described the Van Epps win as “merely the latest in an unambiguously troubling series of recent election results for President Donald Trump’s party 11 months before the 2026 midterm elections.” The perverse reasoning behind this claim is that Epps didn’t win the district by as large a margin as President Trump did in 2024.
But CNN tips its ideological hand by comparing the results of this off-cycle special election to those of a nationwide presidential contest. Yes, it’s true, Trump won the district by 22 points in 2024. But that was an unusually strong performance for a Republican even in this solid red district. Tennessee Senator Marsha Blackburn – a very popular Republican – won the district by less than one percent in 2018.
Special elections are just that – special. They are notoriously dull affairs for most of the electorate, and turnout patterns are unpredictable. While both parties tout upsets or unexpectedly strong performances in special elections as surefire signs of great things to come, the reality is that they are hardly a concrete metric for forecasting future results.
Nonetheless, Democrats hoped to take advantage of the media narrative by mobilizing an army of leftist operatives to get out the early vote in Nashville’s suburbs and calling in surrogates like former Vice President Kamala Harris and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) to campaign for Behn. They even exhumed former Vice President Al Gore to exhort his fellow Tennesseans to vote for Behn. The Democrats also spent $2.3 million on advertising according to AdImpact. In the end, however, the GOP mobilized a lot of voters on Election Day and Van Epps emerged victorious.
Despite legacy media spin, Van Epps did win comfortably. He defeated Behn in 13 of the 14 counties encompassed by Tennessee’s 7th District, according to a report from the New York Times. Moreover, he outperformed recent polls that showed a tight race. The last published poll, conducted by Emerson College in late November, showed Van Epps with only a two-point lead (48-46). His win will expand the razor-thin GOP majority in the House. After he is sworn in, the partisan split will be 220 Republicans and 213 Democrats.
None of this is to say that the Van Epps victory should lead to Republican complacency, particularly considering the upcoming departure of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA). The GOP faces a steep uphill climb in the 2026 midterms.
Historically, the President’s party loses seats in the House during the midterms – there has been only one exception to that rule in this century. In 2002, the Republicans enjoyed a net gain of eight House seats under President George W. Bush. It will be very difficult for the GOP to duplicate that in 2026.
Yet, the Tennessee race offers a few lessons that will increase the GOP’s chances of retaining control of the House after 2026.
First, the Democrat leadership obviously believes they can nominate left-wing crazies for office and still win as long as they chant “affordability” over and over again. And, make no mistake, that is exactly what they attempted after nominating Aftyn Behn. That may work in New York City, but it won’t fly in flyover country.
Second, it shouldn’t be forgotten that a last-minute social media blitz from Trump appeared to generate a surge in support for Van Epps, cutting against the idea that Trump is somehow an electoral liability for Republicans. To that point, Van Epps offered some valuable advice for Republicans during his victory speech:
“Running from Trump is how you lose. Running with Trump is how you win … Our victory was powered by a movement of Tennesseans that are ready for change. We are grateful to the President for his unwavering support that charted this movement and catapulted us to victory. President Trump was all-in with us. That made the difference. In Congress, I’ll be all-in with him.”
House Republicans are understandably nervous about 2026, but there is no one in Washington more invested in maintaining a GOP House majority than President Trump. He knows better than anyone that a Democrat majority in the House of Representatives will be an unmitigated disaster for the country as well as his presidency.
Moreover, as he demonstrated on Tuesday, he is willing to invest political capital as well as campaign funds to help a struggling Republican candidate. His super PAC, MAGA Inc., donated nearly $1 million to Van Epps.
On Tuesday, there was no “MAGA Crack-up” in sight. Democrats and their partners in the corporate media threw everything they had at Van Epps – big money, flattering “news” coverage of his opponent, heavyweight surrogates, and a formidable ground game. But the purportedly fractured Republicans were there with him. Not only was House Speaker Mike Johnson on the ground with Van Epps, President Trump supported him with tele-rallies and a rare X post asking voters to get out and vote early to ensure that the district remained in GOP hands.
The Republicans can hold the House in 2026 with this kind of solidarity, regardless of Democrat fabrications and corporate media propaganda about a “fracturing” coalition.
David Catron is a Senior Editor at the American Spectator. His writing has also appeared in PJ Media, the American Thinker, the Providence Journal, the Catholic Exchange and a variety of other publications.
