Matt Van Epps, supported by Trump, wins the primary of the Tennessee Gop Congress

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The political power of President Donald Trump in republican investiture races was fully visible on Tuesday when a candidate he had supported last week won a special and competitive special republican election for a vacant seat at the Congress in Tennessee.
Matt Van Epps, supported by Trump, former commissioner of the Tennessee General Services Department, came out of 11 Republican candidates in the running to occupy the headquarters in the 7th District of the Congress, Firmly Red, of the State, according to the Associated Press.
Van Epps will now be the favorite of the general elections of December 2 to succeed the former republican representative Mark Green, who resigned from his functions in June to hold a position in the private sector.
Trump’s support in Van Epps in a group that also included state representatives. Jody Barrett, Gino Bulso and Lee Reeves, shaped the result of the primary battle, even if the president’s support intervened after the end of the early vote in the competition.
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President Donald Trump is making gestures as he climbs on Air Force One with First Lady Melania Trump at the Naval Basic of Norfolk Chambers Field in Norfolk, Virginia, Sunday, October 5, 2025. (Alex Brandon/Photo AP)
The race between the main GOP contenders has turned into a loyalty test towards Trump and, with the approval of the president, Reeves suspended his campaign and supported Van Epps.
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“Matt knows the wisdom and the courage necessary to defend our country, support our incredible soldiers/veterans and ensure peace by force,” said Trump in his declaration of support.
Van Epps, who was also supported by Governor Green and Republican Bill Lee, described Trump’s support for “incredible honor”.

Republican candidate Matt Van Epps was supported last week by President Donald Trump, before the Republican primaries on Tuesday during a special election in the 7th district of the Tennessee Congress. (With the kind authorization of the Matt van Epps campaign)
And on Monday evening, on the eve of the primaries, the president joined Van Epps for a tele-rash co-organized by the conservative outdoor group politically influential Club for Growth, which also supported Van Epps.
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Trump won the district, located in the center and west of Tennessee and extending from Kentucky to Alabama, about 20 points in the presidential election last year.

A special election takes place in the 7th district of the Tennessee Congress to provide the seat left vacant when the republican representative Mark Green resigned from the House of Representatives of the United States in June to hold a position in the private sector. (J. Scott Applewhite, back/photo AP)
Van Epps, lieutenant-colonel of the Tennessee National Guard and former army helicopter pilot, was also supported by the eminent republican representative of the House of Representatives, Jim Jordan, of Ohio.
But Barrett, who boasted of being “the representative of the most conservative state in the history of Tennessee”, had the support of the political branch of the House Freedom Caucus, who spent a lot of money during the race for the primaries.

The representative of the State Jody Barrett, republican candidate for the special electoral campaign of Tennessee in the 7th district of the Congress of the State, expressed during a political forum on Monday September 8, 2025. (Photo George Walker IV/AP)
Four great democrats were candidates for the nomination of their party. They were representatives of the state Vincent Dixie, Aftyn Behn, Bo Mitchell and the businessman Darden Copeland.
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The Republicans are currently controlling Chamber 219-213, with two vacant seats: the headquarters of the Tennessee and the 18th District of the Texas Congress, following the death earlier of the Democratic representative Sylvester Turner.
The elected democratic representative Adelita Grijalva, who won a special election at the Congress in Arizona last month, has not yet taken oath.