By Shane CroucherShareNewsweek is a Trust Project memberFlorida Governor Ron DeSantis gave his fellow Republicans a warning about the 2026 midterms after the Democratic Party outperformed expectations in the Tennessee special election, sharply narrowing the gap in a district President Donald Trump had won by more than 20 points at the last presidential election.
Republican Matt Van Epps defeated Democrat Aftyn Behn for the U.S. House seat in Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District on Tuesday. But he won by nine points, well short of Trump's victory. It augurs a difficult set of midterm elections in 2026 for the Republicans as they try to hold on to their majorities in the House and Senate.
"Special, off-year, and midterm elections historically benefit the party out of power because its voters are motivated to vote, while voters of the incumbent party become more complacent," DeSantis said in a post on X.
"This is more glaring for today’s GOP because a chunk of voters who put them in power in 2024 are Trump-specific voters; they will vote GOP down ballot when Trump is running but won’t turn out to vote for a typical congressman in a midterm when Trump isn’t running."
This is a breaking news story. Updates to follow.
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