Republicans were forced to spend more than $3 million to protect this Trump +22 district

Behn is latest Democrat to dramatically overperform as GOP struggles with its base ahead of midterms

Tonight, Democratic candidate Aftyn Behn blew away expectations in Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District, dramatically overperforming despite long odds in this Trump +22 district. The GOP was forced to spend millions of dollars to squeak out a slim, single-digit margin in yet another humiliating near-loss for Republicans in a deep-red district, a blaring warning sign ahead of the midterm elections.  

After Republicans spent well over $3 million and deployed Donald Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson for multiple rallies and virtual events, Behn still nearly won this race. The national Republican machine pulled out all the stops: MAGA Inc. spent millions — their first spend this year; the RNC invested six-figures; and other outside Republican groups bombarded Tennessee voters with misleading attacks. 

In spite of it all, Behn held the line and delivered the best performance for a Democrat in this district in years. 

With tonight’s results, Democrats have now won or overperformed in 220 out of 248 key and special elections this year — nearly 90%.

In the final weeks of the election, the DNC:

• Deployed our robust national distributed volunteer organizing team to contact more than 100,000 voters in the district across multiple platforms.
  
• Increased funding to red states like Tennessee through our Red State fund, providing $22,500 a month to the Tennessee Democratic Party for core infrastructure building and to help with campaigns such as Rep. Behn’s.
  
• Supported the Behn campaign with communications, political, and digital help leading up to the election. 

• DNC Chair Ken Martin also campaigned for Aftyn Behn last month.

In response to Aftyn Behn’s historic overperformance, DNC Chair Ken Martin released the following statement:

“What happened tonight in Tennessee makes it clear: Democrats are on offense and Republicans are on the ropes. Aftyn Behn’s overperformance in this Trump +22 district is historic and a flashing warning sign for Republicans heading into the midterms. Aftyn centered her campaign on lowering grocery, housing, and health care costs for Tennessee families. Her Republican opponent ran his campaign focused on Donald Trump, and he had to get bailed out by a massive Republican spending onslaught to barely hold this traditionally safe Republican seat. The fact that Republicans spent millions to protect this Trump +22 district and still lost so much ground should have the GOP shaking in their boots. Democrats are all gas and no brakes as we head into next year, organizing everywhere and competing in elections across the country ”

###