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President Donald Trump’s political muscle in Republican nomination races was on full show Tuesday as a candidate he endorsed final week received a crowded and aggressive GOP particular election main for a vacant congressional seat in Tennessee.
Trump-backed Matt Van Epps, a former commissioner of the Tennessee Division of Common Companies, got here out on prime in a discipline of 11 Republican candidates vying to fill the seat within the state’s solidly purple seventh Congressional District, in accordance with the Related Press.
Van Epps will now be the favourite within the Dec. 2 normal election within the race to succeed former Republican Rep. Mark Inexperienced, who resigned from workplace in June to take a personal sector job.
Trump’s endorsement of Van Epps in a discipline that additionally included state Reps. Jody Barrett, Gino Bulso and Lee Reeves, formed the result of the first battle despite the fact that the president’s backing got here after the end of early voting within the contest.
THIS REPUBLICAN CONGRESSMAN RESIGNS FROM CONGRESS, FURTHER SHRINKING FRAGILE GOP MAJORITY
President Donald Trump gestures as he boards Air Power One with first woman Melania Trump at Naval Station Norfolk Chambers Subject in Norfolk, Va., Sunday, Oct. 5, 2025. (Alex Brandon/AP Picture)
The race among the many main GOP contenders changed into a take a look at of loyalty to Trump, and with the president’s endorsement, Reeves suspended his marketing campaign and backed Van Epps.
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“Matt is aware of the WISDOM and COURAGE required to Defend our Nation, Help our Unimaginable Navy/Veterans, and Guarantee PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH,” Trump mentioned in his endorsement assertion.
Van Epps, who was additionally endorsed by Inexperienced and Republican Gov. Invoice Lee, referred to as Trump’s help “an unbelievable honor.”
Republican candidate Matt Van Epps was endorsed final week by President Donald Trump, forward of Tuesday’s GOP main in a particular election in Tennessee’s seventh Congressional District. (Courtesy of Matt Van Epps’ Marketing campaign)
And on Monday evening, on the eve of the first, the president joined Van Epps for a tele-rally that was co-hosted by the politically influential conservative exterior group Membership for Development, which additionally backed Van Epps.
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Trump carried the district, which is situated in central and western Tennessee and stretches from Kentucky to Alabama, by roughly 20 factors in final yr’s presidential election.
A particular election is being held in Tennessee’s seventh Congressional District to fill the seat left vacant when Republican Rep. Mark Inexperienced resigned from the U.S. Home in June to take a job within the non-public sector. (J. Scott Applewhite, File/AP Picture)
Van Epps, a lieutenant colonel within the Tennessee Military Nationwide Guard and a former Military helicopter pilot, was additionally backed by outstanding Home Republican Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio.
However Barrett, who touted that he’s the “most conservative state rep. in Tennessee historical past,” had the help of the political arm of the Home Freedom Caucus, which spent closely within the main race.
State Rep. Jody Barrett, a Republican candidate in Tennesseee’s particular election marketing campaign within the state’s seventh Congressional District, speaks throughout a political discussion board Monday, Sept. 8, 2025. (George Walker IV/AP Picture)
4 main Democrats have been working for his or her get together’s nomination. They have been state Reps. Vincent Dixie, Aftyn Behn, Bo Mitchell and businessman Darden Copeland.
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Republicans at present management the Home 219-213, with two vacancies: the seat in Tennessee and Texas 18th Congressional District, following the dying earlier this yr of Democratic Rep. Sylvester Turner.
Democratic Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva, who received a particular congressional election in Arizona final month, has but to be sworn in.
