House Democrats are jumping into an upcoming special election in Tennessee, dumping $1 million on an increasingly nationalized battle for a deep-red congressional seat as President Donald Trump gets involved in the race.
House Majority PAC, the super PAC aligned with the lower chamber’s Democratic leadership, announced plans on Friday to spend $1 million on TV and digital ads to boost state Rep. Aftyn Behn. The Tennessee Democrat faces Republican Matt Van Epps next month in a district Trump won by 22 points in 2024.
The spending represents a dramatic escalation for national Democrats, who have so far not spent significant cash on the long-shot race. Republicans have pumped far more — over $1.7 million — into it, including through the Trump-allied super PAC and the Club for Growth.
This week, Trump and Kamala Harris waded into the contest, with the president hosting a telephone rally for Van Epps, while Harris appeared at a canvass launch for Behn on Tuesday.
Privately, Democrats acknowledge it’s at best a narrow path to victory, but are voicing newfound optimism about their ability to win — or at least narrow past margins — on Republican turf after their consistent overperformance at the ballot box since Trump’s 2024 rout.
The Tennessee race marks the House Democrats’ super PAC’s first special election involvement this cycle.
Ahead of April special elections in Florida for two congressional seats in districts that Trump won by more than 30 points, Democratic candidates raised millions, mostly from online donors, but HMP and other Democratic super PACs steered clear. Republican-aligned super PACs spent more than $1 million on each race, and both Democratic candidates overperformed expectations, while still losing by roughly 15 points each.
Democratic enthusiasm is also showing up in the Tennessee candidates’ fundraising totals.
Behn raised just over $1 million since the start of October, according to a report her campaign filed with the Federal Election Commission on Thursday. More than half the total was from donors giving less than $200. Van Epps raised $590,000 over the same period, with nearly half his funds coming from other political committees.
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