Rep. Matt Van Epps was sworn in by House Speaker Mike Johnson on the House floor Thursday morning after winning a special election on Tuesday.

Republican Matt Van Epps has won a special election in Tennessee for a seat in the U.S. House. Van Epps was backed by President Donald Trump.

Van Epps defeated Democrat Aftyn Behn, NBC News projects, after an expensive campaign to replace former Rep. Mark Green.

Democrat Aftyn Behn is already teasing another Congressional run after losing in Tuesday's special election for Tennessee's 7th congressional district to Republican Matt Van Epps. Speaking on CNN, Behn said that she was planning to call her rival to congratulate him,

Matt Van Epps, who was backed by Trump, is projected to defeat Democrat Aftyn Behn in a congressional district the president won by 22 percentage points in 2024.

Republican candidate Matt Van Epps is likely to win the special election in Tennessee, according to the latest polls and betting odds. Vann Epps is standing against Aftyn Behn, a Democratic state legislator, to fill a seat left vacant by former Representative Mark Greene, who resigned from the House earlier this year.

Their winning margin has been much-reduced, after a contest that was seen as a test of Donald Trump's popularity.

Republican Matt Van Epps won the Tennessee 7th Congressional special election, but Aftyn Behn's overperformance has Democrats celebrating, too, and sets up an affordability focus in the 2026 midterms.

Voters in Tennessee elected Republican Matt Van Epps to fill a vacant U.S. House of Representatives seat, U.S. media outlets projected on Tuesday, padding the narrow lead by President Donald Trump's party in the chamber heading into next year's midterm elections.