Update 8:44 p.m.: Congratulations and accolades are pouring in from Van Epps from Republicans, including President Donald Trump, who congratulated the newly the newly elected congressman in a post to Truth Social.
“Congratulations to Matt Van Epps on his BIG Congressional WIN in the Great State of Tennessee,” wrote the president. “The Radical Left Democrats threw everything at him, including Millions of Dollars. Another great night for the Republican Party!!!”
Praise also came in from U.S. Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Bill Hagerty (R-TN), as well as other Tennessee elected officials, including Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs, and U.S. Representative Tim Burchett, who congratulated Van Epps as his “newest colleague.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA-04), who campaigned with Van Epps ahead of the elected, also wrote that he looks forward to working with him in Congress.
Prominent Republicans in Tennessee also sent congratulatory statements to Van Epps, including the athlete Riley Gaines and documentary filmmaker Robby Starbuck.
Update 8:33 p.m.: In a statement sent to media, Van Epps said, “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.”
Update 8:23 p.m.: With the race called by multiple outlets and 133,327 votes counted, Van Epps continues to expand his lead over Behn, with 54 percent of the vote to 46 percent. Current estimates suggest about 167,000 votes will be cast, as estimated on Tuesday by Michael Patrick Leahy, the Editor-in-Chief of The Tennessee Star.
Update 8:09 p.m.: Decision Desk HQ and other outlets have called the race for Matt Van Epps.
Update 8:03 p.m.: Van Epps continues to build a lead over Behn with the latest drops, receiving 53 percent of the vote to 47 percent for Behn. Van Epps had received 52,591 ballots and 47,175 went to Behn. Totals from Davidson County, the Democratic stronghold, have yet to update in the last few drops.
Update 7:50 p.m.: The latest ballot drop saw the candidates emerge in a virtual tie, with Van Epps leading with 45,417 ballots to Behn’s 45,229.
Update 7:45 p.m.: The latest ballot drops saw Behn’s lead diminish to 52 percent to 46 percent for Van Epps. Behn had received a total of 37,787 ballots to 33,666 cast for Van Epps. With 19,177 votes cast, Montgomery County appears to have counted all of its early and absentee votes, showing Behn narrowly leading the county with 51 percent of the vote to 48 percent for Van Epps.
Update 7:32 p.m.: A drop of ballots in Davidson County saw Behn take the lead over Van Epps with 56 percent of the vote to 44 percent, and 37,307 ballots to 27,689 ballots cast for Van Epps. In early voting, Davidson County voters cast a total of 20,951 ballots.
Update 7:20 p.m.: Van Epps expanded his lead over Behn to 57 percent to 41 percent, with 24,046 votes to 17,330.
Election Day voters in Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District cast their ballots on Tuesday, with Republican Party nominee Matt Van Epps seeking to retain the seat won by former Representative Mark Green in a double digit landslide just last year.
Van Epps is a U.S. Army veteran and former member of Governor Bill Lee’s administration who was endorsed by President Donald Trump, and earlier this week held two campaign rallies with U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA-04).
State Representative Aftyn Behn (D-Nashville), meanwhile, is seeking to flip the seat for the Democratic Party, and has recently received the support of Democratic National Committee (DNC) chairman Ken Martin, U.S. Representatives Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (D-NY-14) and Pramila Jayapal (D-WA-07), and benefited from a campaign stop by former Vice President Kamala Harris.
While Republicans hope for an early night in a district Trump won by double digits last year, Behn previously said Democrats will look at her race as an example for how to flip future seats.
Early results, which generally include ballots cast during Tennessee’s early voting period, saw Van Epps open to a slight lead over Behn.
About 15 minutes after polls closed on Tuesday, Van Epps led Behn 55 percent to 43 percent, with 18,413 votes to her 14,242 votes.
This is a developing news story. Check back for updates as ballots are counted.
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Thank goodness Mr. Van Epps won! And i read that Behn in true liberal Karen fashion lectured Van Epps about obamacare.funding after she LOST. This goes to show how clueless Behn is.
The failing obamacare is 100% the problem of the donks. Not a single republican voted for it, The democrats kept the government shut down because they expected the republicans to fund the government subsidies which so many people expect as the premiums are so high. ANOTHER mess created by the democrats that the rest of us have to deal with.