I love the way Mariane Angela of the Daily Caller led off this piece about the 7th District congressional race.I love the way Mariane Angela of the Daily Caller led off this piece about the 7th District congressional race that Matt Van Epps won Tuesday night: Failed Democratic Tennessee congressional candidate Aftyn Behn conceded the election Tuesday night but didn’t end the race quietly, phoning Republican Tennessee Rep-elect Matt…
I love the way Mariane Angela of the Daily Caller led off this piece about the 7th District congressional race that Matt Van Epps won Tuesday night:
Failed Democratic Tennessee congressional candidate Aftyn Behn conceded the election Tuesday night but didn’t end the race quietly, phoning Republican Tennessee Rep-elect Matt Van Epps to tell him how she thinks he should do his job.
Van Epps won the special election for Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District on Tuesday, defeating Behn and keeping the historically Republican, President Donald Trump-leaning seat in GOP control. Instead of conceding without incident, Behn said she phoned Van Epps to tell him what she believes he must do in Washington, D.C. — specifically, protect Obamacare subsidies.
“I called the Congressman-elect, Matt Van Epps, and I had one question for him. What will define what happens next? Do not let the Affordable Care Act subsidies expire. Do not raise health care costs for working families in Tennessee,” Behn said.
Behn, who fell short in the traditionally red 7th District after a heavily funded race, framed her loss as a symbolic victory.
We should insist on referring to her as “failed Democratic Tennessee congressional candidate Aftyn Behn” from now on. Perhaps even go further and call her “failed Nashville-hating Democratic Tennessee congressional candidate Aftyn Behn.”
Oh, wait — you don’t know what that’s about? Yeah. She hates Nashville. She ran for Congress in the district that covers most of the Nashville suburbs, but she hates Nashville.
I’m not kidding. Here:
Yes, she’s a monster. Kayleigh McEnany had it exactly correct when she said if somebody tells you they want power, it’s best not to give it to them.
And Aftyn Behn absolutely, positively cannot be given any more power over her fellow humans than she already has as a member of the Tennessee state legislature.
That’s going to be an ongoing fight, because people like this will never, ever go away. But at minimum this skirmish has been won.
You’re going to see — probably you’ve already seen — a lot of analysis like this, from Robby Starbuck on X, about Van Epps’ victory:
Some will be mad at me for this but I say it out of love for our country… We won the TN special election by less than we should have.
If you’ve been to this area, you know it should have been a blowout. And this isn’t a knock on Matt Van Epps. He had lower name ID to begin with and did a good job pulling it out. A lesser candidate would have made it a real nail biter.
So why was it close? Many voters are apathetic and have very little enthusiasm on our side. Why? They think our majority in Congress is failing them due to weak leadership, bad priorities & inconsistent messaging.
Before I go further, I don’t say this to punch my own side for fun. I don’t do that. I say this because I want us to dominate for many years to come.
