Aftyn The Lovin'

Winning by losing?

Democrats are actually celebrating the results of the special U.S. House election in Tennessee's Seventh Congressional District, in which Democratic candidate Aftyn Behn, below, lost - yes, lost - by about eight percentage points to her MAGA Republican opponent Matt Van Epps.

Aftyn Behn - whose name sounds like a Philadelphia suburb in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania - is a member of the Tennessee House of Representatives who ran for the vacant U.S. House seat in her district and campaigned on affordability, which is an issue even in a low-tax, no-services Southern state.  While she lost by eight points, Donald Trump had carried the district by twenty-two points in 2024.  Democrats are celebrating this as a moral victory because it means that maybe, just maybe, in other districts that are more competitive,  the Democrats can swing the vote by as many percentage points and overwhelm and defeat their Republican opponents.

That's as may be, she still lost.

And she lost in a state that is best known for producing moderate Democratic U.S. Representatives like Harold Ford, Jr., Jim Cooper, and, before he went to the Senate, Albert Gore (who remains the last Democrat elected to the U.S. Senate from Tennessee - in 1990).  Behn is clearly a progressive - so progressive that she can't stand country music despite living in Nashville.

Which is why there won't be a rematch between her and Van Epps in November 2026.  Democrats don't get second chances when they lose, and they're not allowed to make comebacks.  If you disagree, I have a "Dukakis in '92" campaign button to sell you.

Not to mention an "Al Gore in '04" bumper sticker. 

Sorry, Aftyn.  Nice try.  You failed.  But at least you still have your House seat in Nashville.  Look to work your way up in the Tennessee House, because you will never get to Washington.