This final election is literally make or break
The fate of the House has not been decided … yet
Can you handle one more election to close out the year? Don’t groan at me like that.
Think of it this way: We’re getting another test case for our theory that culture wars are dead. At the ballot box. At the hands of an affordability agenda.
The race for the vacant House seat in Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District should’ve been a shoo-in for the GOP. Its last occupant won 60% of the vote in ‘22 and ‘24, and 70% in 2020. Trump carried it by 22 points last year and 27 points in 2020. Like … c’mon.
Next thing I know, 35-year-old Democrat Aftyn Behn is within two points of 42-year-old Republican Matt Van Epps. And they’re running massively different campaigns in the homestretch, starting with the approach to affordability. Behn’s got her priorities stated clearly in her social bios: feed kids, fix roads, and fund hospitals. She returned to the message in almost every video she put out this week, and doubled down on details about how she’d tackle the cost of groceries, for example.
I went into her Linktree1 in search of more on her policy stances and discovered that, in addition to featuring resources for those in need of food assistance and benefits, she has an entire Substack featuring interviews with new media, interactions with voters, and musings on policy in action, with what feels like one thousand different entry points for people to get involved.
Now, Matt Van Epps … what a long, strange trip it’s been combing through his recent media. He is eager for his potential voters to know that his opponent wants to raise taxes to fund her socialist agenda, defund the police, and give transgender surgery to minors, not to mention her belief that men can give birth and burning a city is an act of self-expression. All that in one video, btw.
I asked a Democratic operative familiar with the race about the efficacy of this closing comms strategy:
“100% a mistake … The day we discovered Trump was in the Epstein files, Van Epps goes on the tele-rally and says he’s “100%” with Trump. So naturally, they’re running the same tired MAGA playbook.”
Speaking of playbooks, a former presidential hopeful dropped in to rev up their party base. Whether that packs more of a punch than the social media strategy, we let our source weigh in … below the paywall.
While the president practices sounding out the word “affordability” in the mirror, it’s clear the crowded mass of MAGA’s wannabe-ruling class has yet to receive news of this issue’s dominion. Van Epps does have an “economy” section on his website, but it’s focused on “Bidenflation,” cutting waste, building energy, and the “critical” need to “unleash innovation in Crypto and artificial intelligence.” Nothing about the cost of living for everyday Tennesseans.
Van Epps’ campaign collaboration videos aren’t cleaning up behind him either. TN Sen. Marsha Blackburn offered her endorsement, mentioning that Van Epps “is focused on the issues of the economy” — but she stops short of letting us in on the secret of what those issues might be. I would be remiss not to mention the endorsement from Kid Rock where he encourages liberals to move to Portland if they don’t like country music.
To end on a phalange-heavy note: It’s a good rule of thumb for candidates to have a finger on the pulse of their community’s interests. And if you cannot exactly locate that pulse, you should at the very least be familiar with its existence. But instead, we get this:
“When asked about marijuana, [Van Epps] said he hadn’t looked into it. Meanwhile [Behn] is running on “pot for potholes” — legalizing cannabis to fund local infrastructure. And when polled, two-thirds of TN residents support legalization.”
This is gonna be quite a photo finish. Can’t wait to see what happens on Tuesday. Until then, I’ll fill you in on the hijinks of our unusually boisterous federal overlords.
THE WACKADOODLE WHITE HOUSE
I’m gonna forgo discussion of Trump’s 500-word, 67-comma Thanksgiving screed to share a Truth he posted calling a reporter ugly, but not before he had this to say of IL Gov. Pritzker: “I refuse to talk about the fact that he’s a fat slob. I don’t mention it.” I dunno, kind of feels like you looove mentioning it.
