'Unimpressive': Are Republicans looking for the exits after close finish in Tennessee?

The 11th Hour with Stephanie Ruhle

MS NOW, Stephanie Ruhle

Senate, Washington, Ms Now, Policy, News, President, Msnbc, Politics, Congress, Government, Versant Media, Versant

4.5 • 3.6K Ratings

🗓️ 3 December 2025

⏱️ 43 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The democratic candidate in Tennessee's special House election makes a surprising showing in a deep-red district, Secretary Hegseth tries to distance himself from fallout over the administration's boat strikes, and Costco sues the Trump administration for full tariff refunds if the Supreme Court strikes them down. Daniella Diaz, Larry Sabato, Mark McKinnon, Barry McCaffrey, Brendan Greeley, Bharat Ramamurti, and Amb. Bill Taylor join The 11th Hour this Tuesday night.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Tonight, a Democratic candidate makes a surprising showing in a deep red House district in Tennessee
0:07.2	coming close to flipping a Republican stronghold.
0:10.8	Then Pete Higgseth defends the deadly strike on an alleged drug vote in the Caribbean,
0:16.3	claiming he didn't see survivors in the water.
0:19.0	And the president weighs in on the issue of affordability, calling it, quote, a con job
0:24.0	and a fake narrative created by Democrats as the 11th hour gets underway on this Tuesday night.
0:33.8	Good evening once again. I am Stephanie N Rule, and we are now just 335 days away from the midterms.
0:44.1	But this evening, all eyes are on Tennessee's 7th District, which is holding a special election to fill its house seat.
0:51.2	This is a district that Donald Trump won by 22 points just one year ago.
0:56.5	But this evening, it was a much, much closer race. The NBC News Decision Desicions can project that
1:02.0	the Republican, Matt Van Epps, has defeated the Democrat, Afton Bain, but right now the margin is only
1:07.4	about nine points. So while the Democrats did not gain a seat, they did come a
1:11.7	whole lot closer to Republicans in a ruby red district ahead of next year's midterms. So let's get
1:17.3	smarter with the help of our leadoff panel and dig into this. Daniela Diaz is here,
1:21.1	congressional reporter for notice. Larry Sabado, director at the Center for Politics at University of
1:26.2	Virginia, professor and presidential historian, and Mark McKinnon joins us.
1:30.3	Former advisor to both George W. Bush and John McCain.
1:33.7	Larry, just a few minutes ago, we heard from the Democrat Afton Bain, and I want to share a little bit of it.
1:40.4	And we may not have won tonight, but we change the story of what's possible here.
1:44.6	And we're not done.
1:45.8	Not by a long shot.
1:48.2	So tomorrow, we keep fighting.
	...

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