NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) – Republican Matt Van Epps won Tuesday night’s special election, securing his spot as the next congressperson representing District 7 in Tennessee. But his win came at far smaller margin than his 2024 predecessor Rep. Mark Green.
Van Epps defeated Aftyn Behn Tuesday night in a special election to fill Green’s seat, who resigned to work in the private sector. Van Epps received more than 96,000 votes, coming in at about 55% of the vote. Behn ended the night with about 46% of the vote.
See More: Matt Van Epps defeats Rep. Aftyn Behn in special election to fill vacant congressional seat
That’s a much tighter race than the district saw last year, when Green beat Democrat Megan Barry. In that race, Green received nearly 60% of the total vote and Barry came in at about 38%.
The special election drew national attention as pollsters, politicians and analysts looked at District 7 for a possible barometer for how Middle Tennessee and beyond may vote during next year’s Midterm elections.
Despite Behn’s loss, polls and election results show that Democrats made gains in the historically Republican District 7.
Van Epps received a lower percentage of the total vote in every county compared to Green, and Behn saw a higher percentage of the total vote in every county compared to Megan Barry, who ran for Democrats last year.
Previous Coverage: Poll shows Republican Van Epps holding slight lead over Democrat Behn in Tennessee’s special congressional race
When looking at the percentage of votes in 2024 and 2025 that went to the Republican candidate compared to the Democrat, the data shows a marked shift over the last year in the District 7 voter base.
Davidson County saw the biggest changes. The county in District 7 usually swings blue, with Democrats winning that county in both 2024 and 2025.
However, Republicans saw nearly 9% fewer votes toward their candidate compared to the previous year. And Democrats saw a more than 10% increase in the percent of the overall vote they received, coming in at 77% of the Davidson County vote.
Democrats saw a nearly 7% jump in Montgomery County as well, where Republicans saw a dip by about 5%. And in Williamson and Cheatham Counties, they gained more than 5% of the total vote.
The special election had a lower turnout than the 2024 election, which was no surprise as presidential elections normally see a surge in turnout. Unofficial results show that nearly 180,000 ballots were cast in Tuesday’s election, just a little over half of the more than 322,656 cast in the 2024 house election.
See below for a look at how each county voted in this year’s special election:
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