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In Tennessee, another test of the ongoing fragmentation of the Trump coalition is playing out in a December 2 special election for the U.S. House. After bad losses for Republicans across the country over the last month, a seat that Donald Trump won last year by 22 points is at enough risk that conservative groups have thrown $3.3 million at the race in the final stretch.
The seat was vacated in July by Rep. Mark Green, who opted to take a private-sector job. Republican Mark Van Epps, a member of Gov. Bill Lee’s administration, is facing Democratic state Rep. Aftyn Behn. It was designed as a gerrymandered red seat, combining a slice of blue-dot Nashville with a large swath of conservative outlying areas. But the possibility of a monumental upset has brought DNC chair Ken Martin and 2024 presidential nominee Kamala Harris to the district, earned Behn cable news appearances, and raised a ton of anticipation. When I talked to Behn last Thursday night, she had to briefly excuse herself to take a call from Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD).
Behn, 35, has a unique story to tell in the race, rooted in her work in the state legislature. Specifically, in the midst of an affordability crisis, her main legislative work product in the last year was a bill that was seemingly written by a scriptwriter to show her interest in lowering prices for everyday families, and opposition Republicans’ rejection of that effort in favor of continued corporate tax breaks. The contrast may just earn Behn a ticket to Washington in what would be a signal that conservative economics are wholly unsuited to the political moment. |
