Democrats pick nominee for Tennessee special congressional election
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Democrats on Tuesday chose their candidate in a special congressional election for an open seat in Tennessee.
Aftyn Behn, a former health community organizer and current Democratic state representative, has captured her party’s nomination, according to the Associated Press. According to the Tennessee star, Dickson County Democratic Party U.S. representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called Behn “TN’s own AOC,” referring to DN.Y.
The primary field included three state representatives and an advisor in Tennessee’s Solid Red 7th Congressional District.
Behn will now be considered the underdog in the Dec. 2 general election to succeed former Republican Mark Green, who resigned from office in June to take a private sector job.
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When Republican Rep. Mark Green resigns from the U.S. House to take a job in the private sector, a special election is being held to fill the vacant seat in Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
President Donald Trump carried the district, located in Middle and West Tennessee and stretching from Kentucky to Alabama, by nearly 20 points in last year’s presidential election.
Trump is Front and Center in These 2025 Election Markers
Trump’s enormous political clout in the Republican nomination races faced a test Tuesday in a crowded and competitive GOP primary. That follows the president last week endorsing Matt Van Epp, a former commissioner of the Tennessee Department of General Services and one of 11 names on the ballot in the GOP primary. Van Epp claimed victory on Tuesday.
President Donald Trump, Sunday, October 5, 2025, in Norfolk, Va. (Alex Brandon/AP photo)
Republicans currently control 219-213 with two vacancies: the seat in Tennessee and Texas’ 18th Congressional District, following the death of Democratic Rep. Sylvester Turner earlier this year.
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Democratic representative Adelita Grijalva, who won a special congressional election in Arizona last month, has not yet been sworn in.
