President Donald Trump spent the Thanksgiving weekend urging Republicans to turn out for a surprisingly competitive special election in Tennessee, while his attacks on the Democratic candidate drew attention from national reporters. The race in Tennessee’s seventh congressional district has grown closer than expected, despite the district’s long history of supporting Trump in all three of his presidential campaigns.
Trump used Truth Social to boost Republican candidate Matt Van Epps as Democratic state Rep. Aftyn Behn gained traction in recent polling. USA Today correspondent Francesca Chambers noted the tone and focus of one of Trump’s posts, pointing out how unusual it was for a president to criticize a candidate’s taste in music.
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“It’s not every day that you see the president of the United States attack someone for hating country music as a reason not to vote for them,” Chambers said on CNN. “One of the things was, it was that she didn’t like country music, which in Nashville is something that can really [hurt] you, honestly.”
Behn’s remarks came from a 2020 podcast where she voiced frustration with some of Nashville’s most tourist-heavy attractions. “I hate the city, I hate the bachelorettes, I hate the pedal taverns, I hate country music – I hate all of the things that make Nashville apparently an ‘it’ city to the rest of the country,” she said at the time. The clip has resurfaced during the campaign, and Trump seized on it.
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“Matt is fighting against a woman who hates Christianity, will take away your guns, wants Open Borders, Transgender for everybody, men in women’s sports, and openly disdains Country music,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “She said all of these things precisely, and without question — IT’S ON TAPE! Do not take this Race for granted. The Radical Left Democrats are spending a fortune to beat one of the best Candidates we’ve ever had.”
Behn has since clarified her comments, saying she gets “mad at the bachelorettes sometimes” and finds the pedal taverns frustrating, but insisted that country music holds personal meaning for her. Chambers noted that Behn’s stronger-than-expected performance reflects broader national frustration over economic concerns.
“On the affordability argument, though, there is this negative voter sentiment nationwide about the economy that has carried over since last year, and they’re still very upset, including with the president of the United States,” Chambers said. “Many people are blaming the sitting president. So will this once again be a potential referendum on those policies? It will be again, tough again, given how many points Donald Trump won this district by.”
The election has become an unexpected test of voter sentiment in a reliably conservative area, drawing increased focus as Democrats hope to make the race competitive and Republicans work to protect a seat they previously won with ease.
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