House Majority PAC is investing $1 million in TV and digital advertising to boost Democrat Aftyn Behn in a Tennessee special election, stepping into a deep‑red district that Donald Trump carried by 22 points in 2024 and where Republicans have already spent more than $1.7 million backing GOP nominee Matt Van Epps.
On Friday, House Majority PAC, the super PAC aligned with House Democratic leadership, announced plans to spend $1 million on television and digital ads to support state Rep. Aftyn Behn. The Tennessee Democrat is facing Republican Matt Van Epps in a special election next month for a congressional seat in a district that Donald Trump won by 22 percentage points in the 2024 presidential election.
The race has attracted heavy outside spending. Republican groups, including a Trump‑aligned super PAC and the Club for Growth, have already put more than $1.7 million into the contest, according to Politico. The House Majority PAC’s decision represents a sharp escalation for national Democrats, who had until now avoided major financial commitments in what is still viewed as a long‑shot bid in solid Republican territory.
National figures have also begun to engage in the campaign. This week, President Trump held a telephone rally for Van Epps, while Vice President Kamala Harris appeared at a canvass launch event for Behn on Tuesday.
Democratic strategists see the Tennessee race as a test of their ability to cut into Republican margins in Trump‑friendly areas, pointing to a pattern of Democratic overperformance in red districts since Trump’s 2024 rout, even in contests where they ultimately fell short.
This Tennessee contest marks the first time this cycle that House Majority PAC has invested in a special election. Earlier this year, in April special elections in Florida for two congressional seats in districts that Trump carried by more than 30 points, Democratic candidates raised millions of dollars, mostly from small online donors, but House Majority PAC and other major Democratic super PACs stayed out. Republican‑aligned groups spent more than $1 million on each of those races, and Democrats lost both contests by roughly 15 points, while still outperforming expectations.
Fundraising in Tennessee underscores Democratic enthusiasm. Behn’s campaign reported raising just over $1 million since the start of October, according to a filing with the Federal Election Commission made public on Thursday, with more than half of that total coming from donors who gave less than $200. Van Epps raised $590,000 over the same period, with nearly half of his money coming from other political committees.
Privately, Democrats concede that the path to victory remains narrow but say they are increasingly hopeful about tightening Republican margins in strongly conservative districts like this one.