The move is being characterized as a shake-up, but was seemingly inevitable in retrospect.

Aftyn Behn, the Democratic nominee for next week's special election in a heavily Republican Tennessee congressional district, has made affordability concerns a centerpiece of her campaign messaging – mirroring the playbook of the party's victorious candidates for governor in Virginia and New Jersey earlier this month. Tuesday's contest is poised to test just how far Democrats can ride that argument in a district that President Donald Trump carried by 22 points last November.

A Democratic win in Tennessee's 7th Congressional District would have been unthinkable just weeks ago. But with polls tightening and national figures from both parties flooding the zone, Tuesday's special election has become a high-stakes test of whether the so-called "blue wave" is gaining strength heading into the 2026 midterm cycle. At the center of the race is Aftyn Behn, a progressive state lawmaker and activist from Nashville, who's attempting to flip a ruby-red district Donald Trump carried by 22 points only a year ago. "We're the underdog, but I love an underdog story," Behn told Newsweek in an exclusive interview on Monday. "This race is competitive because the Washington Republicans have put forth an economic agenda that hasn't delivered and voters are looking for a change."

President Donald Trump called on Tennesseans to vote for Matt Van Epps, the Republican nominee in the special election for the Volunteer State's 7th Congressional District, in a Truth Social post on Sunday. Just two days ahead of the election on Dec. 2, Trump urged "all America First Patriots in Tennessee's 7th Congressional District, who haven't voted yet, to please GET OUT AND VOTE." The president claimed that Van Epps' Democratic opponent, state Rep. Aftyn Behn, "hates Christianity, will take away your guns, wants Open Borders, Transgender for everybody, men in women's sports, and openly disdains Country music."

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