What Tennessee means

Folks, in Tennessee’s 7th District, Democrat Aftyn Behn came remarkably close to winning back a district Trump won by 22 points in 2024. As of now, the Republican is on track to win a very, very red seat by less than nine points. That’s a massive, massive swing.

What you really need to know is that Republicans went absolutely all-in to win this seat. Millions in late spending and an unprecedented effort to hold on to a seat that, by partisan registration numbers alone, should have been an easy win. But it wasn’t.

(If this sounds familiar, it’s because it’s what we did in 2017 and what we’re going to do in 2026. Help power our campaign ahead of our big launch now)

So why wasn’t it easy? And why am I even talking about Tennessee?

It comes down to two things: energy and affordability.

There was so much energy for change. This doesn’t mean only Democrats were excited. Independents are starting to flip - not just in Tennessee, either. That’s how you go from Trump+22 to +9. Those 13 points of voters are Independents or folks who are sick of both parties. And when you lose more than half of your support? There’s something cooking here, folks. It’s what we saw in the November elections where Republicans lost every single statewide race – including the ones in Georgia they had previously won by over 20.

What’s changing so fast? That second thing. Affordability. It turns out, just denying that “affordability” is a problem or calling it a “Democrat scam” isn’t cutting it when folks are paying more for groceries, rent, bills… the list goes on and on. It is a HUGE problem for Trump and Republicans and it is a HUGE problem in Alabama.

When you’ve got energy on your side and almost 70% of Americans disapprove of Trump’s performance on the economy and costs keep going up… you can’t just run an empty suit parroting Trump’s extreme views and do nothing to actually fix the issues for families who are struggling. They are making their voices heard with their votes. Everywhere.

What does this mean for next fall – and our race here in Alabama?

I would remind folks of a couple things:

1. We’ve seen this before. Unprecedented backlash to an unpopular President with issues like the economy and health care on the line? Look back to December 12, 2017.

2. The type of campaign you run matters. When you build something real that folks can get behind – and feel like they are part of something more than just “helping someone get the next title” – that is powerful.

Contribute to my campaign today!

This is not that complicated. The type of campaign we’re building is exactly what we need to do to connect with folks and show them that their voices matter – and their votes matter if we’re going to actually solve the problems they deal with every day. No empty promises or forcing people back to their corners. Just authentic, real conversations that lead to real action.

So when a Democrat comes damn close in a district Trump won by 22 – that’s why I’m so energized, and you should be too.

-Doug

P.S. - Stay tuned for another announcement from me real soon about our official campaign launch. Save the date for December 12th!