Trump Sure Seems Stressed Republicans Are at Risk of Losing House Seat
President Trump dedicated part of his day Monday to attacking Tennessee Democratic House candidate Aftyn Behn, only further confirming that the GOP is desperate for wins it limps into 2026.
Last week, an Emerson College Polling/The Hill survey of the special election had Behn just behind Republican candidate Matt Van Epps, 46 percent to 48 percent—with 2 percent voting elsewhere and 5 percent undecided. A victory for Behn would be a massive upset to a Republican House majority already on its last legs in the wake of Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene’s resignation announcement—and the impending resignations of various others.
“We have to win this seat. We’ve gotten you the largest tax cuts in history, and the new bill—the Great Big Beautiful Bill—kicks in, as you know, on January 1. It hasn’t even kicked in yet,” Trump told a Van Epps rally while on House Leader Mike Johnson’s speaker phone. “Number one, [Behn] hates Christianity, number two, she hates country music. How the hell can you elect a person like that? … It’s a big vote, and it’s gonna show something. It’s gonna show that the Republican Party is stronger than it’s ever been.”
The president also noted that he’d be doing a telerally for Van Epps on Monday night.
"She hates Christianity" -- Trump rants on Mike Johnson's phone at a Van Epps rally pic.twitter.com/VD1gxNvDed
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) December 1, 2025
The narrative that Behn “hates Christianity” is one of many falsities that the GOP has pushed in a race where more than $3.3 million has been spent against her. Behn has mentioned that she disapproves of religions being “at the core of everything we do in the legislature” but has never said anything close to what Trump claimed.
Many also noted the urgency that Trump spoke with.
“‘The whole world is watching,’ President Trump says of tomorrow’s special election for Tennessee’s 7th congressional district—which Trump carried by 22 points in 2024,” USA Today’s Joey Garrison wrote.
The special election is on Tuesday. .