Kyzyl
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Mark Van Epps (R) won 54% to 45% against challenger Aftyn Behn (D).
But the GOP spent millions of dollars and lots of bigwigs campaigned for this special election seat. Trump won the district in 2024 by 22 points.
This implies that in 2026 many House seats will be in dispute.
If the Democratic Party can get its act together and run some good campaigns they may be able to win the House back.
taez555
NibblonianNibbler
Wasn't it a heavily gerrymandered district? And if republicans get that to work for them why won't the Dems do the same?
CryptidRobot
I know it's good news, I guess, but it's still heartbreaking as a Tennesseean. We had a thousand people protesting on the most recent No Kings Day in my city, and the majority still voted red. Not by a large margin, but still. I don't know what it's gonna take to ever get the majority onboard.
TonawandaBlue
A 13 point shift toward Democrats nationally would mean a gain of 40 seats in the House and a supermajority in the Senate. So, of course that means "Leftists" have to run down the Democrats.
SisyphusRollin
Mamdani won by less on that same election than the two moderate dems who also won but the leftists won't talk about that.
autocorrectfailures
Betting on the Dems to get their act together is betting on a loss. Dems let the subversion of our democracy happen by acting in good faith with known bad actors. Let them burn in the fires they failed to extinguish.
SisyphusRollin
Man, you fucking must get hard watching those videos of ICE hurt innocent people. How smug do you feel ?
autocorrectfailures
What have dems done to help stop ICE abuses? They handed the keys to the castle over by attempting to govern in good faith with bad actors for decades. had plenty of time to lock up trump after his first term but politics as usual won the day and lost the Whitehouse.
whiskeywonka
Except the non presidential elections always have lower voter turnout on both sides, so it really doesn't indicate which way things are going. The 7th has a population of 816,216 with a total voter turnout of 178,032. There are 339,426 households so at least that many voting adults so only 52% voted. Less as there is likely more than 1 adult per household (i couldnt find that stat). TN is deeply red and has been for a long time.
Kyzyl
Everything you said is true. But 2026 will have "real" elections with "real" consequences. They are worth paying attention to.
whiskeywonka
I 100% agree, just so often numbers are skewed for ones view. I do not think TN will be flipping even if there is a slide to the blue.
req4adream99
Or the Dem / Progressive voters could get off their asses and actually vote for the candidate that wins the primary instead of staying home and pouting that their candidate didn’t win. For sure vote for who you want in the primary - that’s how progressives are going to get their voices heard and *maybe* we can get some people that want actual change in office. But once that’s done, voters need to coalesce around the winner. Or don’t and blame the DNC for not being able to even keep things/1
req4adream99
Stable cuz your candidate wasn’t on the ballot in November and you decided that if *your* candidate wasn’t on the ballot that you’re ok with what’s happening.
SisyphusRollin
So many "progressives" on reddit are just contrarians with massive privilege. Multiple comments here showing that they prefer division on the left than progress. The look at Biden and still see some corrupt right wing instead of the guy who pushed the most progressive policies of their life, the old ass catholic neoliberal. These kids are ruining our chances of fighting back, they're part of MAGA's toolset.
Ilikestyx
The Democratic party really isn't interested in having amazing and progressive candidates tho... Just look at how much they didn't want Mamdani to win.
SisyphusRollin
Jesus christ you fucking losers just can't wait for MAGA to run everything.
TonawandaBlue
taez555
The actively tried to stop him. Schumer still won't say he didn't vote him.
SisyphusRollin
"Stop him" holy shit you fucking losers, I guess the new progressive is anti democracy.
meganical
It’s hard to find Democrat candidates these days that don’t have at least one skeleton in their closet or a family member that does. I mean, same with Republicans but that being an issue doesn’t affect their career the same.
Ilikestyx
It's not about skeletons, it's about Liberals wanting to continue their same old shit while blocking progressives from getting inside the party. Democrats need newer and younger people in the party... and REAL progressives like Mamdani. The party needs a bit of an enema and to grow a bit of a spine.
SisyphusRollin
Man, you guys have such a fucking stupid disproven narrative. I mean, the last fucking POTUS brought them in and pushed the most progressive policies in office of your life. Fuck you guys, you make this shit so hard.
SisyphusRollin
"Grow a spine" you need to learn some civics. You know ALL THE STUFF you're worried about Trump taking away, the Liberals fought and won. I guess you have ZERO issues with what DOGE did right? Bunch of fucking neoliberal policies he went after. You'd probably be fine with revoking the right for gay marriage right? Its just that damn loser liberals.