Tennessee sets US House special election as candidates of both major parties line up

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A December special election in Tennessee will take place to fill an opening left by Republican U.S. Rep. Mark Green’s retirement, putting the focus on a district that has reliably favored the GOP in recent elections but includes a chunk of Democratic-voting Nashville.

State officials on Thursday announced that the primary election will take place on Oct. 7 and the general election on Dec. 2 in the 7th Congressional District contest. Green, who was the Homeland Security Committee chairman, resigned July 20.

The race already features contested Democratic and Republican primaries. For state lawmakers, the off-year election is enticing: Running for the congressional slot won’t mean forfeiting their seats or trying to run two races at once to keep theirs.

A special election before the midpoint of President Donald Trump ‘s term adds intrigue as well. The race could test whether Trump’s record in office so far can change the margins while it is fresh on voters’ minds.

Here’s a look at how the race is shaping up.

District 7 was one of the three seats that carved up Democratic-voting Nashville in the 2022 Republican redistricting efforts. The new lines allowed Republicans to flip a long-held Democratic seat centered on Nashville. Republicans hold eight of nine House seats in Tennessee, with Rep. Steve Cohen in Memphis being the only Democrat.

In a district spanning 14 counties from the Kentucky northern border to the Alabama southern border, Green defeated Democratic opponents by more than 21 percentage points in 2024 and by nearly 22 points in 2022. Trump beat Biden in 2020 by 12 points among voters in those boundaries.

The district also includes Fort Campbell and has drawn multiple candidates with military backgrounds.

On the Republican side, the lawmakers who have already joined the mix include state Reps. Jody Barrett of Dickson and Lee Reeves of Franklin.

Former Tennessee Department of General Services Commissioner Matt Van Epps has also launched a campaign. He has drawn Green’s endorsement.

The field also includes Montgomery County Commissioner Jason Knight, health care industry businessman Mason Foley, and real estate businessman Stewart Parks, who was pardoned by Trump after entering the Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection.

Democrats have recruited state Reps. Bo Mitchell, Aftyn Behn and Vincent Dixie, all from Nashville. Democrat David Jones, who works in the Nashville district attorney’s office, is running as well.

Jon Thorp, an air ambulance pilot from Springfield, is listed as a Republican candidate in federal campaign finance filings, but has said on social media he will run as an independent.

The field could quickly change with the qualifying deadline of Aug. 12 still weeks away.

Green announced last month he would leave Congress once the House voted again on the sprawling tax and budget policy bill backed by Trump.

Green has said he was offered a private sector opportunity that was “too exciting to pass up” and will be starting his own company, but hasn’t offered many specifics. He said he will be doing something “specifically designed to help America compete against the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), but this time in business.”

Green had said in February 2024 that he would not run seek reelection, a decision revealed a day after the impeachment of then-President Joe Biden’s Homeland Security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. But many fellow Republicans called on him to reconsider, and he jumped back into the running just two weeks later.

Green previously served as an Army surgeon and in the state Senate and is from Montgomery County.