A new Americans For Prosperity Foundation Tennessee poll released Tuesday found the Republican primary race for Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District remains close, with the top four candidates separated by just one percentage point and all within the poll’s margin of error.
AFP Foundation Tennessee State Deputy Director Michael Lofti noted the findings demonstrate that “the state of the race is wide open and essentially tied” among the leading Republican contenders.
The poll’s methodology includes a random sample of 500 likely special election voters and has a margin of error of +/- 4.4 percentage points. The results are weighted.
Three state representatives have emerged as frontrunners based on the polling: Lee Reeves of Franklin, Gino Bulso of Brentwood, and Jody Barrett of Dickson. All three of them have automatically qualified for what may be the race’s only major debate. Matt Van Epps is the fourth front-running candidate, who formerly served in the Bill Lee administration.
The event, hosted by AFP Foundation Tennessee and SuperTalk 99.7 WTN, is scheduled for September 5 at Nashville’s CabaRay Showroom from 6-9 p.m. Michael Lotfi and SuperTalk’s Matt Murphy will moderate.
Additional candidates can qualify for the debate by demonstrating they have raised or self-funded at least $250,000 by August 29. Lotfi indicated that “a couple other candidates” are expected to meet this threshold, though the final participant list has not been determined.
He added that the debate represents “the largest opportunity so far for candidates to directly address the public and show what differentiates them.”
The special election was set in motion by the resignation of Representative Mark Green earlier this year.
The election timeline is compressed compared to regular congressional election cycles. Early voting for the Republican and Democratic primaries begins September 17 and runs through October 2, with Election Day set for October 7. The general election will follow on December 2.
Read the poll:
– – –
Christina Botteri is the Executive Editor of The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow her on X at @christinakb.
Photo “Lee Reeves” by Lee Reeves; “Matt Van Epps” by Matt Van Epps; “Gino Bulso” is by Gino Bulso; and “Jody Barrett” is by Jody Barrett. Background photo “US Capitol” is by Gage Skidmore CC2.0.
