Matt Van Epps wins Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District

Van Epps beat Democratic challenger Aftyn Behn by less than 10 percentage points.

Olivia Summers, News editor • December 2, 2025

The Tennessee State Capitol in Nashville, Tennessee, on February. 5, 2025.

Republican Matt Van Epps won Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District on Dec. 2 after a historic special election race against Aftyn Behn, a progressive state representative, per AP News.

Van Epps held on to the lead most of the night, but Behn closed the gap to an 8% margin in the 7th District, which President Donald Trump won by 22% in 2024. It was also a district that Democrats say their Republican counterparts heavily gerrymandered.

The Republican victory continues the pattern of conservative representatives in the 7th Congressional District, which hasn’t had a Democrat representative since 1983.

The district comprises 14 counties in middle and western Tennessee.

“Although tonight is not the final result that we wanted,” Behn said at her Nashville Election Night Watch Party. “It is the beginning of something so powerful in Tennessee and across the South.

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About the Contributor

Olivia Summers, News Editor

I am a junior graduating in Spring 2027 with a degree in journalism and a minor in political science. Outside of Sidelines, I love to read the news, rate books on Goodreads and listen to music – I have quite the vinyl collection. A fun fact about me is that I have lived in three states: Florida, Texas and Tennessee. But since Tennessee is home to MTSU and Sidelines, it’s obviously my favorite.