Republicans will hold onto Tennessee's 7th Congressional District despite a push by Democrats to flip the deep-red seat, the Associated Press projected Tuesday, as Republican candidate Matt Van Epps was set to defeat Democrat Aftyn Behn. The former state commissioner and Army helicopter pilot defeated the Democratic nominee, Aftyn Behn, with 53.9 percent of the vote in the highly publicized race, according to The Associated Press as of 9:45 p.m. ET. Behn had 45.1 percent, with nearly all votes counted. The high-stakes election was neck and neck ahead of election day, as an Emerson College Polling/The Hill survey released on Nov. 26 showed Epps slightly ahead with 48 percent of voter support in the district and Behn with 46 percent. As always, the highly biased, vote suppressing poll came out largely in favor of the Democrat who is set to lose by almost 10 points.