DAVID MARCUS: GOP win shows Tennessee hasn’t been California’d, at least not yet

Opinion

DAVID MARCUS: GOP win shows Tennessee hasn’t been California’d, at least not yet

Matt Van Epps defeats progressive Democrat Aftyn Behn, but transplants from blue states boost left-wing candidates

David Marcus Fox News

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December 3, 2025 9:56am EST

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Matt Van Epps wins Tennessee special election, padding narrow House GOP majority

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Republicans dodged a bullet on Tuesday night as GOP candidate Matt Van Epps defeated far left progressive Democrat Aftyn Behn by a mere nine points in a district Donald Trump won by 22 points a year ago. But make no mistake: The socialist electoral gun is still locked, loaded and aimed at middle America.

A win is a win, but Van Epps’ relatively narrow margin of victory will set off alarm bells for Republicans nationally, and embolden the socialist wing of the Democratic Party, which is already fast on its way to establishing its dominance.

This election is also a validation for all those folks in the Volunteer State with T-shirts and bumper stickers that say ‘Don’t California my Tennessee,’ for just as non-native New Yorkers pushed democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani to a win in Gotham, transplants were a big boon for Behn.

Democratic congressional candidate Aftyn Behn speaks to supporters during a campaign event in Nashville, Tennessee.

State Rep. Aftyn Behn, a Democratic congressional candidate, attends a campaign event during the special election for Tennessee’s 7th District in Nashville, Tennessee, on Nov. 13. (George Walker IV/AP Photo)

Over the past few years, the population of Nashville has grown by roughly 100 citizens a day, about 30,000 souls a year, and many are coming from blue, high-tax, high-crime states. Sadly, many seem willing to bring their failed politics with them.

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The appeal of Tennessee is clear. In fact, I considered it myself it when I escaped New York City in 2023 before settling on vastly superior West Virginia. There is a high quality of life and low cost of living, and in general Tennessee is just a nice place to live.

Democrats understand these demographic changes in red states, and many will now argue that Behn’s success shows that the growth strategy here is to play to the younger, far-left voters, not the Joe Manchin-type, blue-dog Democrats in their sixties who you can find here and there at the VFW.

Meanwhile, Republicans have expressed glee at the way President Trump has appealed to young voters in the past, especially young men. Pronblem is, those gains seem to all but disappear when Trump isn't on the ballot.

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Part of this disconnect comes from the fact that much of the economic populism that makes Trump attractive to young male voters, including things like $2,000 tariff rebate checks, are the exact things that more traditional Republicans object to in Trump’s platform.

Bernie Sanders, Zohran Mamdani and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez pose together in Astoria, Queens

Sen. Bernie Sanders, Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez pose for a photo in Astoria, Queens, Sept. 6, 2025. (@ZohranKMamdani via X)

The thing that is almost funny about the way that this special election played out was that the only area of the district that Behn won, and decisively, was Nashville, a city which she famously, and recently, said she hated.

This should not be a surprise, one of the key things that far leftists and socialists do is disconnect a place from its roots. This is how you end up with places like Portland, Oregon, putting up a ‘Tree’ instead of a ‘Christmas Tree.’AFTYN BEHN DODGES QUESTIONS ON POLICE FUNDING, POLICY DISAGREEMENTS WITH KAMALA HARRIS

In her concession speech, Behn said that her campaign was the beginning of "something powerful in Tennessee and across the south." She could very well be right, because Nashville is not alone in turning bright blue.

Durham, North Carolina, basically has the politics of Brooklyn, and cities like it and Nashville are growing at massively higher rates than the reliably red rural counties that have traditionally kept Dixie conservative.

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The socialists and progressive Democrats are playing a long game in the south. Note that, with the exception of Bernie Sanders, their leaders like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, New York City Mayor-Elect Zohran Mamdani and Behn, are all in their 30s. They have time on their side.

REPUBLICANS RELENTLESSLY USE MAMDANI AS SOCIALIST CUDGEL TO BASH VULNERABLE DEMOCRATS

Like Moses, Bernie Sanders may have gone to the socialist mountaintop, but it is his followers who mean to get to the Marxist promised land.

Republican congressional nominee Matt Van Epps celebrates with supporters after winning a special election in Tennessee's 7th District, on Dec. 2, 2025 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Paul Steinhauser/Fox News)

Republicans need to take these warnings seriously. Say what you will about the tenets of socialism, but at least it's an ethos. Right now, nobody seems to know quite what Trumpism is, other than Trump himself. That has to change.

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Over the next year, before the midterm, and the following two before the next presidential election, Trumpian populism needs to get bigger than Trump. In fact, Trump may need to set not just the priorities of his administration, but of the future of the Grand Old Party.

Tennessee was not California’d on Tuesday night, and that is a very good thing, but the trends are not good for Republicans. Democrats have a new identity as socialists, and it turns out not to be disqualifying. So what identity will the GOP choose?

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David Marcus is a columnist living in West Virginia and the author of "Charade: The COVID Lies That Crushed A Nation."

DAVID MARCUS: GOP win shows Tennessee hasn’t been California’d, at least not yet