Red alert lights are flashing in ruby-red Tennessee, as worries bubble up that Republicans might be losing their grip on a district long considered safe as houses. On Tuesday, Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) dashed onto Newsmax, brushing off brewing panic about a nail-biter race that’s got GOP loyalists sweating bullets.
The drama centers on Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District, where a special election is underway after Mark Green — a Republican mainstay — bid farewell back in July to jump into the private sector. Remember, Donald Trump waltzed through this district last year with a comfortable 22-point cushion. But, according to fresh polls, that cushion looks more like a throw pillow these days. The numbers suggest that Democrat Aftyn Behn could stage an upset, or, if the presumed GOP candidate Matt Van Epps pulls it off, it’ll be by a razor-thin margin — a far cry from previous blowouts.
U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tennessee, listens during Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee’s speech during Agriculture Day on the Hill at the Tennessee Capitol building in Nashville, Tenn., Tuesday, March 18, 2025.
Faced with tough questions about the GOP’s shaky hold, Blackburn waved away the new statistics, insisting on air that voters simply weren’t tuned in early on because this is just a mid-summer special and folks only pay attention during big election seasons. She doubled down on her prediction: Van Epps is walking away with victory, no sweat.
But Newsmax host Marc Lotter wasn’t buying the spin. He pressed harder, warning that these close polling numbers should set off klaxons for Republicans with the midterms looming. “Even if Van Epps wins, the fact this district isn’t a guaranteed lock should have the party in full panic mode,” Lotter challenged, stacking this Tennessee shocker alongside recent tight races in Virginia and New Jersey as evidence Republicans could be facing major enthusiasm problems.
Blackburn refused to budge, claiming there’s no “enthusiasm gap”—just the typical voter apathy that comes with off-year elections. She declared, “These races always suffer from lower attention than ones tied to regular cycles.”
Sen. Marsha Blackburn speaks in an interview after a roundtable focused on fighting juvenile crime through afterschool programs with local and state officials, advocates, the YMCA, and Boys and Girls Club representatives on Aug. 11, 2025, at the PURE Academy in Memphis, Tenn.
Not missing an opportunity, Blackburn unloaded on Behn, painting her as an extreme left-winger wildly out of sync with Tennessee values. “This woman labels herself a radical, openly calls for defunding the police, and pushes controversial ideas like saying men can have babies,” Blackburn ranted. “She dislikes everything Tennessee stands for: from country music to Christianity, even Nashville itself! But I’ll give her this—she’s stirred up the Democrats more than we’ve seen in years, getting them registered and fired up for her campaign.”
With Election Day here, all eyes are on whether the Volunteer State is set for a political tremor—or if GOP dominance will roll on despite the jolts of doubt.
