Tuesday, December 2, 2025

GOP tested in Tennessee election

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On Politics

Tue Dec 2 2025

Zachary Schermele | Congress and Campaigns Reporter

@zachschermele

Hello, readers. Zach Schermele here, USA TODAY's congressional reporter, filling in for Kathryn Palmer. Welcome to Tuesday's On Politics.

Tennessee election tests GOP's hold in the reddest districts

A Republican is likely to win a special election Tuesday night in Tennessee. Even so, the race could still be a loss for the GOP.

The contest, pitting Democrat Aftyn Behn, a 36-year-old state representative, against Republican Matt Van Epps, a combat veteran, is taking place in the Volunteer State's reliably red 7th Congressional District. In the 2024 presidential election, Donald Trump won the district by more than 20 percentage points.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, left, and Republican congressional candidate Matt Van Epps speak to press during a campaign event on Dec. 1, 2025 in Franklin, Tennessee.

Brett Carlsen, Getty Images

Usually, the district is a shoo-in for the GOP. And many Republicans anticipate the seat to go to Van Epps. But doubt about the strength of the margin is giving them pause. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-New York, said Monday the contest may very well be a "single-digit" race.

"Republicans have already lost," Jeffries said at a news conference. "The fact that they are spending millions of dollars to hold a seat that Donald Trump just won by 22 points is extraordinary – and more evidence that Republican extremists are completely and totally on the run."

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, was in Tennessee on Monday to stump for Van Epps. The trip underscored just how slim the GOP's majority in the House of Representatives is becoming, with more special elections coming in the new year that could cost them further seats.

A politics pit stop:

•	At a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, President Trump called Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell a "stubborn ox" for not lowering interest rates to his liking.
•	New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, a self-proclaimed democratic socialist, is using his transition to City Hall to appeal to more moderate New Yorkers.
•	The federal Education Department's efforts to outsource some of its functions to other agencies could have downstream disruptions for students and schools.

Boat strikes still dominating Capitol Hill

Washington remained abuzz Tuesday with more reactions to the Trump administration's lethal strike in September on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean.

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have criticized Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth in recent days over a Washington Post report that he ordered military officials to kill everyone on board the vessel. Even Rep. Mike Turner, R-Ohio, who sits on the House Armed Services Committee, said Sunday that if the operation occurred as the Post indicated, it would have been "illegal."

President Donald Trump attends a cabinet meeting with Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth at the White House in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 2, 2025.

Brian Snyder, REUTERS

Other congressional Republicans have taken a more supportive tone.

"We need to do something about the importation of all the drugs that have taken so many American lives and will kill more in the future," Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said Tuesday. "So I support the president's initiative."

Hegseth has called the reporting "fabricated, inflammatory, and derogatory."

"We always have the back of our commanders who are making decisions in difficult situations, and we do in this case and all these strikes," he said during Tuesday's Cabinet meeting . "They're making judgement calls and ensuring that they defend the American people. They've done the right things."

Zachary Schermele is a congressional reporter for USA TODAY. You can reach him by email at zschermele@usatoday.com. Follow him on X at @ZachSchermele and Bluesky at @zachschermele.bsky.social.