The GOP Hangs On in Tennessee, as Voters Swing Left by Double Digits

WSJ Opinion: Potomac Watch

The Wall Street Journal

Society & Culture, News

4 • 2.7K Ratings

🗓️ 3 December 2025

⏱️ 24 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Republican Matt Van Epps wins a special election for a House seat in Nashville, but he defeats Aftyn Behn, the "AOC of Tennessee" by only nine points, in a district Donald Trump carried by 22. Is this a signal about the coming 2026 midterms? Plus, Britain will pay more for pharmaceuticals to avoid further Trump tariffs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:29.5	Number one trusted based on August 2025 proprietary survey among real estate professionals.
0:37.4	From the opinion pages of the Wall Street Journal. This is Potomac Watch.
0:44.9	Republicans hang on to a House seat in Tennessee after a special election Tuesday, but were voters sending the GOP a message with their double digits shift toward the Democrats?
0:50.4	Plus, facing a threat of tariffs by President Trump, Britain's Labor Party agrees to pay more for U.S.-made pharmaceuticals.
0:58.8	Welcome, I'm Kyle Peterson with The Wall Street Journal.
1:02.5	We're joined today by my colleagues on the editorial page, columnists Bill McGern and Alicia Finley.
1:09.9	Tennessee's 7th House District was won by President Trump by
1:12.9	22 points last year, so it was a jolt when polls showed a neck-and-neck race between Republican Matt
1:20.2	Van Epps and Democrat Afton Bain in a special election to replace the retired Congressman Mark Green.
1:27.4	Speaker Mike Johnson went down to Tennessee
1:29.2	to campaign, even put President Trump on speakerphone at one event. And the result Tuesday was not
1:34.9	quite as close as those polls had suggested, with Van Epps winning by about nine points.
1:41.5	Here he is in his victory speech on Tuesday night, crediting President Trump for this
1:45.3	victory. Our victory was powered by supporters of President Trump turning out to vote. The president
1:52.5	built the largest, most diverse coalition to ever elect a Republican, and we leaned in on that.
	...

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