Trump Touts ‘BIG WIN’ After GOP Narrowly Hangs On to Flashpoint Tennessee Seat

(AP Photo/George Walker IV)

President Donald Trump praised Matt Van Epps’ electoral victory late Tuesday as Republicans held on to a deep-red Tennessee House seat and fended off progressive state lawmaker Aftyn Behn, whom the president fumed “hates Christianity” during the race.

Van Epps, a former Army helicopter pilot, secured Tennessee’s 7th District with barely 54% of the vote, defeating Behn in a district Trump carried by 22 points just last year. The win increases Republicans’ House majority to 220 seats, though that number shrinks again when Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) leaves in January.

Trump immediately seized on the result, hailing the victory as “another great night for the Republican Party!!!”:

Van Epps reciprocated the praise in his victory speech: “President Trump was all-in with us. That made the difference. In Congress, I’ll be all-in with him.”

Meanwhile, Democrats are hardly discouraged by the narrow loss.

Democratic National Committee chair Ken Martin warned Behn’s surge in a Trump-heavy district was “a flashing warning sign for Republicans heading into the midterms,” mocking the GOP for spending “MILLIONS just to barely hold on to this seat.”

Behn, who attracted national support from liberals, was pressed during the campaign over deleted tweets and a damning podcast clip in which she said of Nashville, “I hate the city… I hate country music.”

“The deck was stacked against us, especially in the deep red south, and we’ve narrowed the margin. And for me, that is a celebration worth having,” she told CNN anchor Kaitlin Collins Tuesday night.