Matt Van Epps Takes Win in U.S. House District 7 Race

Republican Matt Van Epps came out on top in the nationally watched special election on December 2, securing a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. Although Van Epps won by a large margin in Wayne County, his victory against his Democratic opponent, Aftyn Behn, was a bit smaller than expected district-wide.

Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District was previously represented by Mark Green, a Republican who was first elected to Congress in 2018, but resigned in July, triggering the special election. The 7th district encompasses the northern and western third of Davidson County, portions of Williamson and Montgomery Counties, and about a dozen rural counties, including Wayne.

Van Epps, a Lieutenant Colonel in the Tennessee Army National Guard, served on active duty as a combat helicopter pilot and Air Mission Commander in the Army Special Operations. He was previously a general services commissioner for the State of Tennessee.

Wayne County voted heavily in favor of Van Epps, who wound up with 84.60% of the county’s vote. Election results indicated that only 27.85% of Wayne County’s 10,235 registered voters turned out to cast their votes in this special election. The low voter turnout is generally blamed on the fact that a majority of Wayne County voters simply don’t take the time to vote unless it’s during a major County Election cycle, the next of which will be in 2026.

Van Epps’ victory over Behn was around nine percentage points across the entirety of the 7th District. Mark Green, also a Republican, won the last election for the seat by 21 percentage points.

Behn, Van Epps’ Democratic opponent, ran up a huge margin in Davidson County, which is the most Democratic county in the district and home to Nashville. Van Epps carried the rest of the district, including many deep-red counties throughout central Tennessee, as he tied himself tightly to President Donald Trump.

“Politicians who run from the president or abandon the common-sense policies that the American people gave us a resounding mandate on do so at their own peril,” Van Epps said at his victory party. “No matter what the D.C. insiders or liberal media say, this is President Trump’s party. I’m proud to be a part of it and can’t wait to get to work.”

Trump congratulated Van Epps in a social media post, saying he won even though “the Radical Left Democrats threw everything at him.”