{"id":79191,"date":"2025-12-03T03:31:42","date_gmt":"2025-12-03T03:31:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/79191\/"},"modified":"2025-12-03T03:31:42","modified_gmt":"2025-12-03T03:31:42","slug":"republican-candidate-matt-van-epps-wins-tennessees-7th-congressional-district","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/79191\/","title":{"rendered":"Republican candidate Matt Van Epps wins Tennessee\u2019s 7th Congressional District"},"content":{"rendered":"

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WZTV) \u2014 Republican Matt Van Epps won Tuesday\u2019s special election for Tennessee\u2019s 7th Congressional District, per Associated Press<\/a>, securing the seat vacated by former U.S. Rep. Mark Green, who resigned earlier this year.<\/p>\n

Van Epps, a former commissioner in Gov. Bill Lee\u2019s administration, defeated<\/a> Democrat Aftyn Behn and four independent candidates in a race that drew significant national attention. His campaign surged after he received multiple endorsements from President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n

Van Epps\u2019 candidacy also drew support from musician Kid Rock<\/a>, who urged voters to back the former state official in a video posted to Van Epps\u2019 X account.<\/a><\/p>\n

On election night, Van Epps <\/a>told supporters that the result reflected strong backing for the president.<\/p>\n

\u201cTonight you sent a message loud and clear: the people of Tennessee stand firmly with President Donald J. Trump,\u201d Van Epps said.<\/p>\n

He thanked Trump directly, saying, \u201cTo President Donald J. Trump, thank you. Your endorsement made all the difference, and I will never forget it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Van Epps also called for unity as he prepares to take office.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo those who didn\u2019t support us in this election, I still support you,\u201d he said. \u201cI will work with honesty and integrity every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

He thanked his family and supporters while continuing to highlight the help he received from President Trump.<\/p>\n

\u201cTonight we showed running away from Trump is how you lose,\u201d he said. \u201cRunning with Trump is how you win.”<\/p>\n

Van Epps says he plans on focusing on the state’s economy, bringing down healthcare costs, and giving veterans \u201cworld-class care they earned.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cFrom the bottom of my heart, thank you for believing in me, thank you for believing in this movement and thank you for believing in America,” Van Epps closed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WZTV) \u2014 Republican Matt Van Epps won Tuesday\u2019s special election for Tennessee\u2019s 7th Congressional District, per…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":79192,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[151,153,152],"class_list":{"0":"post-79191","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bakersfield","8":"tag-bakersfield","9":"tag-bakersfield-headlines","10":"tag-bakersfield-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79191","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79191"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79191\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79192"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}