Tennessee congressional candidate and pardoned January 6 prisoner Stewart Parks walked back his claims that the campaign led by his opponent, veteran and former Tennessee state official Matt Van Epps, was falsely telling voters that Parks suspended his candidacy and endorsed Epps, in a Sunday statement to The Tennessee Star.
While Parks claimed in a Sunday statement that the Van Epps campaign was telling Parks supporters that their preferred candidate dropped out of the race and endorsed his opponent, the Van Epps campaign denied this to The Star.
Pressed for evidence of the underhanded tactic, Parks told The Star his campaign received multiple reports.
“We’ve run a clean, strong campaign, and we’re excited about the support we’ve seen,” Parks told The Star. “Here are the facts: we’ve received multiple reports of people being called saying that I have dropped out of the race and endorsed Matt Van Epps. This is not true, I am in the race 100%.”
The Star asked Parks whether he had concrete evidence supporting his claim that Van Epps was misrepresenting his candidacy to voters, and whether his sources might have confused his candidacy with that of Stuart Cooper, who shares a differently spelled version of Parks’ name, but the candidate did not respond prior to press time.
Van Epps on Sunday celebrated his his latest endorsement, from Cooper, in a post to X that was published after Cooper suspended his campaign.
“I deeply respect Stuart Cooper’s commitment to his faith, his country, and our conservative values, and I’m honored to have his support,” wrote Van Epps in a post to X. “Thank you, Stuart, for your confidence and your endorsement.”
I deeply respect Stuart Cooper’s commitment to his faith, his country, and our conservative values, and I’m honored to have his support. Thank you, Stuart, for your confidence and your endorsement.#MattforTN #TN7 #MAGAhttps://t.co/qG7oSWNWbZ
— Matt Van Epps for Congress (@MattForTN) October 6, 2025
Cooper told voters in a Sunday press release, “My name will still be on the ballot, but I now ask all my supporters to vote for Matt Van Epps, supporting him in the primary election on October 7 and in the general election on December 2.”
He received a similar endorsement on Friday from State Representative Lee Reeves (R-Frankin), who suspended his campaign last week after President Donald Trump endorsed Van Epps.
The endorsements by Cooper, Reeves, and Trump are the latest in a series of high profile endorsements for Van Epps, who was also endorsed by Governor Bill Lee and former U.S. Representative Mark Green (R-TN-07), whose mid-term retirement from Congress prompted the special election.
The primary election for Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District will be held on Tuesday, and the general election is scheduled for December 2.
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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].
Photo “Matt Van Epps” by Matt Van Epps; “Stewart Parks” is by Stewart Parks; and photo “Stuart Cooper” is by Stuart Cooper.
