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Tennessee’s Special Election This Week Could Shock the Nation
Democratic state representative Aftyn Behn is within striking distance in a district Trump won by 22 points, and voters have a chance to flip it on Tuesday.
I wanted to make sure you saw my recent interview with Democrat Aftyn Behn, the Tennessee state representative who is neck-and-neck with her Republican opponent in a district Donald Trump won by 22 points in November. The special election is this Tuesday, December 2. If you know anyone in Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District, now is the time to spread the word. What happens there could reverberate nationally.
Tennessee is not the political monolith many imagine. In conversation after conversation, voters tell me the same thing: they are fed up. They are tired of Donald Trump’s regime treating their state like a testing ground for cruelty and economic exploitation. They see what is happening to their farms, their hospitals, their jobs, and their families. And they know it doesn’t have to be this way.
This district, carefully carved by MAGA lawmakers to cement Republican control, is suddenly competitive because the crisis in Tennessee is impossible to ignore. “This is probably as bad as we’ve seen it in well over a decade,” said Joe Jennings, CEO of Tilley, a Memphis-based agricultural company, describing catastrophic losses that farmers have started calling “farmageddon.” Trump’s tariffs have collided with soaring production costs, leaving farmers underwater by as much as $300 per acre. Floods devastated yields. Equipment prices skyrocketed. Many farmers won’t survive another season.
The human consequences of that economic collapse are visible everywhere. Food pantries across the state are overwhelmed. As one food bank official explained, “this current situation is going to take a lot more than [emergency state funding] to meet the immediate demands of all the SNAP recipients that don’t have anything on their cards.” Rows of donated goods turn over in 48 hours. People are literally running out of food.
Health care is collapsing too. Rural hospitals have closed or are close to it. Insurance premiums have doubled. Mortality and education rankings hover near the bottom of the nation. The people of Tennessee deserve better, and they know it. That’s why this race is within reach.
On Tuesday, voters will choose between two starkly different visions. On one side is Matt Van Epps, a MAGA candidate whose campaign resembles a performative pledge of loyalty rather than an agenda for working people. In local interviews, he struggles to answer even basic questions, including whether he supports releasing the Epstein files. “I support the Speaker’s plan,” he repeated over and over, unable to articulate a position without waiting for directions from party leadership.
His robotic deference has not gone unnoticed. Even his ex-wife wrote on Facebook that she cannot “believe a single person can fall for all of his political bullshit,” calling him someone who “does nothing but repeat Fox News rhetoric.”
On the other side is Aftyn Behn, a well-known state representative and lifelong organizer who has spent years standing up to corruption and fighting for survivors of sexual assault. Her campaign is rooted in the needs of working families: the affordability crisis, the rising cost of groceries and housing, the strain on hospitals, and the crushing consequences of MAGA economic policy.
“Washington is making our affordability crisis worse, and working families in Tennessee are getting crushed everywhere,” she told me. She jumped into the race after the passage of what she called “the big ugly bill,” which she says “codified the greatest transfer of wealth in American history.” Her message is resonating with Democrats, independents, and even disillusioned Republicans.
She is also unafraid of calling out the scapegoating tactics that have defined MAGA politics. “Immigrants are not the reason your grocery prices are high. Period. End of statement,” she said. Voters know distraction when they see it. They can see that their government has been captured by what Behn calls “the Billionaire Boys Club,” corporations and wealthy interests that have treated Tennessee as a laboratory for the policies Trump now promises to impose nationwide.
This race is far closer than anyone predicted. Early polling had Behn down six. A new poll shows her down two. Her coalition is growing every day, built by people who are “pissed off at what’s going on” and ready for real change.
December 2 is the final congressional special election in the country this year. If Behn even near current polls, the statement made is seismic. If she wins, the national map shifts. Candidates focused on economic dignity and democratic values gain momentum. And every strategist, donor, and voter in America will have to confront a new reality: even in places MAGA thought it owned, voters are choosing a different future.
This is the moment. If you know people in Tennessee, be sure to share this interview with them and make sure they have a plan to vote this Tuesday. Tennessee’s 7th District has been forced to live under MAGA policies for years, and the consequences have been devastating. But the people there are rising.
Watch my interview with State Rep. Aftyn Behn above, and when you’re done, you can also watch the conversation MeidasTouch contributor Ken Harbaugh had with her recently during an in-person interview for MTN.
Thank you for supporting our independent reporting and allowing us to focus on the issues and races that matter most, even as they go largely ignored by legacy media.
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