It’s a special election Tuesday in a west-central Tennessee congressional district where the outcome will be closely analyzed in the final federal contest before the calendar turns to the 2026 midterm election year.
President Donald Trump, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and Republican-aligned groups pulled out all the stops in a bid to elect Matt Van Epps (R), an Army combat veteran and former state cabinet official, over state Rep. Aftyn Behn (D), a progressive activist and social worker, in a district that favored Trump by 22 percentage points in the 2024 election.
What should have been an easy Republican win ...
