Washington Examiner chief political correspondent Byron York said Wednesday that the Tennessee special election results deserve attention from both Democrats and Republicans as the 2026 midterm election cycle heats up.
Republican Matt Van Epps won a special election in Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District, defeating Democratic state Rep. Aftyn Behn in a race that became more competitive than expected. Democratic National Committee Chairman Ken Martin said on X that Behn’s overperformance in the race should be a “flashing warning sign” for Republicans before next year’s elections, adding that they had to spend millions of dollars “just to barely hold onto this seat.”
York said Van Epps’s victory is “a huge thing” for Republicans, as it slightly expanded their thin majority and will make it easier for them to pass legislation. York explained how Democrats are framing this race as a win, despite Behn losing by a small margin. Van Epps won by roughly 9% in a district that President Donald Trump won by about 22% last year.
“Now, is nine points that narrow a victory? I don’t know because it’s reasonably an impressive victory, and there is a debate this morning among Democrats, among centrist Democrats, who are saying, ‘Look, if you elect left-wing candidates like Aftyn Behn, you’re not going to perform as well as you can in a number of centrist districts. So I think there’s something to caution both sides in this election result,” York said on Fox News’s America’s Newsroom.
York added that there is “an impression” that Trump was elected because of inflation that rose under former President Joe Biden’s watch, which Trump has not addressed enough. York said Republicans have reason to be concerned about the midterm elections, as Trump’s approval rating is “somewhere in the 40s,” and it’s common for the sitting party in the White House to lose the House.
POLLS OVERSOLD DEMOCRATS’ CHANCES IN TENNESSEE SPECIAL ELECTION BUT PARTY STILL SEES HOPE IN RESULTS
Prior to election night, Behn said Republicans have not delivered on affordability, to which the Washington Examiner‘s Joe Concha argued that affordability was “taken away” during the Biden administration. However, Concha contended that Democrats are “on a roll” following November’s elections, in which the party soundly won top races in New Jersey, Virginia, and New York City.
Ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, Trump is pushing his “Trump accounts” program to promote affordability. The White House told the Washington Examiner that the accounts “are going to have an immediate impact on millions of working-class parents across the country who will have confidence knowing that their children have a better shot at realizing the American dream.”
