It was never realistic to think that Democrats could flip the special US House election in deep-red central Tennessee. Republicans had built themselves too many structural advantages to lose, but the fact that the district that Trump won by 22 points over Kamala Harris in 2024 moved 13 points to the left in about a year should send panic through the Republican Party.
Republicans spent millions of dollars on a special election in a district that Trump claimed would prove that the Republican Party was strong.
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Speaking of Trump, Republicans even got the declining president on the phone to speak at two rallies for Republican Van Epps. Republicans sent Speaker Mike Johnson to campaign in the district and did everything they possibly could to try to put up a dominant win.
The Tennessee special election wasn’t a contest where Republicans relied on their built-in advantages and took a smaller-than-expected win. Trump and his party tried to run up the score, and they completely failed.
The GOP’s failure to quell members of their own party who are worried about a blue wave is the big story to come out of the special election.
Tennessee sent a message to Republicans, and it was that a blue wave is coming.
CNN’s Harry Entin said:
Republicans should be running for the hills this morning because the blue wave is building. What are we talking about here? Well, Van Epps, Matt Van Epps, the Republican candidate, he won it by 9, but this is a district that Donald Trump won by 22 points, 15 points, 17 points. This is a 13-point gain for the Democrats in terms of the margin.
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