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With Marjorie Taylor Greene's Announced Resignation, the Behn-Van Epss Seat Becomes Even More Important.

Republican Matt Van Epss and Democrat Aftyn Behn

by Rod Williams, Nov. 25, 2025- The TN-07 special election for Congress has been getting lots of national attention. I must have seen half a dozen podcasters report on the race and several mainstream news outlets. Also, a lot of out-of-state money from independent groups is pouring into the race. Total independent expenditures by Democratic groups has reached $1.9 million so far and Republican groups have injected $2.4 million into the race. (1) The race has taken on a lot more importance with the announcement that Marjorie Taylor Green is resigning from Congress on January 5th. 

There is widespread belief that Democrats will retake the House in the midterms on November 3, 2026. Something like 20 House Republicans have already announced they will not be seeking reelection.  There is a possibility that the House could switch earlier, if things go right for Democrats. Part of things going right is Aftym Behn winning the upcoming Dec 2nd election. 

Republicans currently hold a 219-213 edge in the House of Representatives. With Green vacating a seat, the split will be 218 to 213.  There are two other special elections to fill vacant seats scheduled to take place soon, and Democrats are heavily favored in both races. One is in Texas to replace the late Representative Sylvester Turner who died in March, and the other in New Jersey to replace Governor-elect Mikie Sherrill, who last week resigned from her seat in the House of Representatives. The Texas special election is set for March, while the New Jersey race is set for April. (2) If  Democrats win these two seats in addition to the Marjorie Taylor Green seat being vacant, the split will be Republicans 218 to Democrats 215. If this happens and Aftyn Behn wins the TN-07 seat split would be 218-216. 

If that happens, then it only takes two Republicans to follow Marjorie Taylor Greene's example and retire early for the House to split 216-216. Punchbowl News is stating that "a few other GOP members" are "considering retiring in the middle of the term." (2) Should this happen it would lead to a power-sharing arrangement. If three resign early, the Democrats gain control. While this scenario is unlikely, it is possible. This is why so much national attention is being focused on a race that until recently was considered a solid, safe red seat and not worth spending money on. 

I feel pretty confident that the TN-07 seat will stay Republican. With revelations that Behn supports sex change treatments for children, supports defunding the police, and hates Nashville, I think her chances of winning have decreased. If Democrats had chosen a more moderate candidate, I think the chances of flipping the seat would be much greater. 

Even if Democrats do not retake the House, a slimmer Republican majority means that it takes fewer disgruntled Republican House members to cause headaches for the Speaker. It means it is harder for the Speaker to hold up legislation that a large portion of the House wants to see the light of day. It takes fewer Republican defections for committees to conduct meaningful oversight. 

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Ethics complaint filed against Metro Nashville Councilman Rollin Horton

Rollin Horton

WSMV, Nov. 25, 2025- The Voices of District 20, a group formed to recall Councilmember Rollin Horton, filed a complaint with the Metro Board of Ethical Conduct on November 20. ... The Voices of District 20 shared a copy of the criminal complaint it alleges to have mailed to the DA’s office. In it, the group accuses Councilman Horton of harassment, stalking and civil rights intimidation.

“His conduct - targeting recall petitions through doxxing, repeated communications, and misuse of police - intends to annoy, alarm, frighten, or offend, constituting harassment (Class A misdemeanor). The repeated, coordinated targeting potentially qualifies as stalking. Most critically, it coerces residents from exercising First Amendment rights to petition, violating civil rights intimidation laws.”

... The clerk provided a copy of the ethics complaint to WSMV. In it, Chris Remke, Rachel Gladstone and Lauren Magli, all representatives of the Voices of District 20 group, claim, “Councilmember Horton has engaged in a sustained campaign of intimidation, harassment, doxxing, and interference targeting residents of District 20, particularly those involved in a lawful recall petition effort against him. This conduct has created a climate of fear, suppressing civic participation and chilling support for the recall.” (link)

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Why Dems Are Pouring Money Into the Tennessee 7th

by  Lauren Egan, The Bulwark, Nov. 23, 2025 - IT’S BEEN A GOOD MONTH for the Democratic party. Double-digit wins in the Virginia and New Jersey gubernatorial races, fractures within the Republican coalition over releasing the Jeffrey Epstein files, and polls ....

The 7th is now reliably Republican; Trump carried it by 22 percentage points in 2024 and Green won his last two races by a similar margin. ...

In short, TN-7 is not exactly the place where the two political parties tend to fight it out, let alone spend meaningful sums of money. Yet that’s exactly what is happening in this special election.

Millions of dollars have poured into middle Tennessee in an attempt to tip the balance between Democrat Aftyn Behn, a progressive organizer and state representative, and Republican Matt Van Epps, the former Tennessee General Services commissioner.

... while it’s notable how much more bullish Democrats have gotten about their prospects, most party officials I spoke with (both in Tennessee and at national party organizations) think that Van Epps will ultimately win. It’s simple math. While Democrats tend to overperform in special elections and a Trump backlash is clearly brewing, a 22-point deficit is just a lot to overcome.

In private, Democratic officials tell me that they are hoping to see a single-digit loss. They believe even that would be enough to send a message that the political winds are at their backs, that Trump’s agenda is politically toxic, and that Democrats can seriously compete in red parts of the country that just a few weeks ago felt out of reach.

... Behn is running a campaign designed to turn out Democrats more than to make crosscurrent appeals to Republicans. That may work in a special election. But officials here think that such an approach would doom her in a regular election cycle, when Republican voters are more clued in and willing to show up. If Democrats want to be anything other than the party of highly educated people who show up in special elections, then they have to figure out how to win over more moderate and conservative voters.

...it is imperative for Democrats to find a formula that works. Behn may benefit from running in a special election—in which her party has routinely overperformed—but her success (or failure) is going to be closely studied for which voters are activated and why.

...Democrats in the state insist that a base-turnout strategy could work. In my conversation with Martin, he stated plainly that the race was “not about persuading voters, it’s about turning them out.” And at a canvass launch I attended last week, organizers for the Behn campaign told volunteers that they would be knocking only on the doors of Democratic voters and likely wouldn’t encounter any Republicans.

... Republicans have attempted to paint Behn as too liberal, resurfacing old podcast comments she made about policing and going after the work she did for the progressive grassroots group Indivisible. They’ve dubbed her the “AOC of Tennessee” and circulated clips of her calling Trump a “racist, white-supremacist bigot.”

There are some signals that Behn recognizes the risks and rewards of a base-turnout approach—and is trying to balance them. She has campaigned with progressive stars like Rep. Jasmine Crockett and activist David Hogg. But her buzziest campaign video does not even mention her party affiliation. When Kamala Harris made a surprise appearance in Nashville to encourage people to vote in the special election, it was hosted by the Tennessee Democratic Party, not Behn’s campaign. Harris, who had long planned to be in town for her book tour, never mentioned Behn by name and the two did not appear together. Behn left the rally to attend a fundraiser just a few minutes before the vice president arrived.

... The Behn model might be the smartest play for a special election, but the Democrats I spoke with warned that it was not how the party would unseat other Republicans in deeply red districts, like GOP Rep. Andy Ogles in Tennessee’s 5th—a race that the national Democratic party has already said they will spend money on next year.

“If Aftyn comes within 10 points, I absolutely think most Democrats in Tennessee will see this as ammunition to run further to the left in all races,” said a local elected official.

... Van Epps won a crowded Republican primary thanks to an endorsement from Trump, he’s done very little to highlight his MAGA credentials in the general election. In a recent TV ad, Van Epps doesn’t even mention he’s a Republican. (Read it all)

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Aftyn Behn on Defunding the Police

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Is Peak Trump Past

 by Rod Williams, Nov. 23, 2025 - Is it possible that Trump is a lame duck and that Trumpism is past its prime, and we are turning the page? I don't know, but it feels like it. Of course, I thought after the Trump-encouraged coup attempt of January 6, 2021 that Trump was done, and I was wrong. That being said, this is the most encouraged I have been since Trump got reelected that people are tuning on Trump and his power is waning. 

This past week was a very bad week for Trump. Writing in The Dispatch, this is how Rachael Larimore described it. 

On Tuesday, Congress voted almost unanimously to approve the release of the Epstein files. The same day, a federal court blocked Texas’ newly drawn congressional map, a move made at Trump’s behest to help the GOP pick up seats in the 2026 midterms. (The matter is now before the Supreme Court.) On Wednesday, a federal judge criticized the government’s handling of its prosecution of former FBI Director James Comey, saying that “government misconduct may have tainted the grand jury proceedings,” and ordered prosecutors to turn over records from the grand jury proceedings to Comey’s legal team. On Thursday, the September jobs report, unreleased until now because of the shutdown, showed that unemployment ticked up to 4.4 percent, its highest level since October 2021. And Trump has spent the last week rolling back some of his signature tariffs in an attempt to bring prices down.

That is bad, but she is only speaking of the most recent week and missed some other bad news for Trump. This is also the week in which Marjorie Taylor Greene officially broke with Trump. While I think MTG is a certifiable nut-job with her crazy talk of Jewish space lasers causing California wildfires and similar nutty stuff, I think she is a person of integrity, and she is authentic. While many Republicans are playing to the base and know Trump is a con artist and his policies are insane, they go along to avoid Trump's wrath and a primary challenge. Marjorie Taylor Greene really believes the Trumpy stuff. I suspect she really wants to "drain the swamp," believes there is an international cabal of pedophiles controlling the world, and really is a committed isolationist. She is a True Believer and is more MAGA than Trump. Marjorie Taylor Greene is representative of a lot of people within the Trump movement.

Marjorie Taylor Greene represents one rebellious faction in the Trump movement that is unhappy with Trump. There is another faction that is also in rebellion, and that is those who are disgusted by the tolerance of neo-Nazis within the movement. Many were shocked in early October to learn of an email exchange among Young Republican leaders in which they joked about gas chambers and expressed pro Nazi sentiment. If you missed this, see Hitler Loving Young Republicans.

The expose that some significant Young Republican leaders view Hitler favorably caused a ripple of revulsion in Trump world but quickly faded. Then, in late October, America's leading pundit, Tucker Carlson interviewed Nick Fuentes, a self-described white nationalist known for antisemitic and racist comments. The interview went on for over two hours and Carlson asked only softball questions of this young man who had praised Hitler and denied the Holocaust. The interview sparked immediate backlash within Republican and conservative circles, including from people like Senator Ted Cruz. 

Then Heritage Foundation president Kevin Roberts posted a video defending his "close friend" Carlson and denouncing his critics as a "venomous coalition" and "globalist class." This was met with strong opposition and outrage within the Heritage Foundation and much of the Trump movement. Roberts apologized and issued a stronger condemnation of Fuentes's views and some people within Heritage who had advised Roberts were forced to resign.

All of this stuff about the pro Nazi email exchange and the Carlso-Fuentes-Heritge episode may not seem significant, but I think it is. There is a civil war going on within MAGA. It is only going to grow. Without unity within the movement, there will not be the same enthusiasm to work the polls, knock doors, give money, and defend Trump and Trumpism on social media. The worker bees of the movement may just sit out the midterms and by the 2028 presidential election, MAGA may be split between different candidates, opening a path for a normie pre-Trump type Republican. 

Another reason to be of good cheer about the demise of Trumpism is that the Democrats swept the recent off-cycle elections. Abigail Spanberger in Virginia and Mikie Sherrill in New Jersey won by double-digit victories with margins that exceeded expectations.  In Georgia, two Democrats flipped seats on the state’s Public Service Commission, and Democrats flipped a couple of Republican-held state Senate seats in Mississippi. And, of course, Mandomi won big in New York City. The New York race was an expected win for Democrats, but for Democrats to win in Mississippi and Georgia is a sign of a Democratic resurgence. I think those votes are as much a way to express anti-Trump sentiment as they are a vote in favor of Democratic policy positions. 

Another thing going wrong for Trump is that Republicans got the most blame for the recent government shutdown. Another is that prices are up, and Trump had to tacitly admit that tariffs raise prices and had to remove tariffs on over one hundred common grocery store items. And, the mass deportation is causing people to turn against Trump. This is especially true in the Hispanic communities where Trump had made gains. Many people who believed Trump would go after the worst of the worst are unhappy to see people like their lawn care guy or the nice lady who also has a child in the same daycare as their child get deported.

There is also an indication that the Republican Party in Congress is finally getting some backbone and may stand up to Trump. They exhibited this in defying Trump in voting for the Epstein files to be released. Equally important, I think, is that Trump pressured the Senate Republicans to abolish the filibuster in order to end the shutdown and they didn't do it. Republicans know that without the filibuster, once Democrats come back into power, Democrats will grant statehood to Washington D. C. and Porto Rico, giving Democrats four more Senate votes, they will pack the Supreme Court, and make the right to abortion the law of the land.  The filibuster protects the interests of the minority party and prevents a temporary, tiny minority from exercising its will. Trump is only concerned with his legacy, but it seems Republicans can see beyond Donald Trump, and that is a good thing.

While all of the above I see as good news, indicating Trump's peak popularity and power are past, that is not to say that all is well. Given Trump's disregard for the Constitution and norms, he may become more dangerous when he feels power is slipping away. Also, we don't know what comes after Trump. I am going to put those concerns off for another day and bask in what I see as the beginning of the end of Trumpism. We are on the downward side of the Trump curve. Let us acknowledge it and enjoy it. 

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Aftyn Behn Caught Saying She 'Hates' Nashville

Fox News 17, Nov. 23, 2025 - Democratic congressional hopeful Aftyn Behn did not hold back when describing how she really feels about Nashville — the city she’s now running to represent — in a 2020 podcast that’s resurfaced just days before the Dec. 2 special election. (link)

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Poll shows people want politics out of colleges

By Kim Jarrett, The Center Square,  Nov 19, 2025 -   The latest Vanderbilt Unity Poll reveals that people want college and university professors to remain neutral on politics and for state lawmakers not to dictate what they teach.

The survey, conducted Nov. 7-10, questioned 1,033 U.S. adults, according to a news release from the Vanderbilt Project on Unity and American Democracy, a nonpartisan initiative.

Thirty-eight percent of those polled said universities should be strictly neutral on all politics and social issues, while 34% said they should speak only on issues that affect education and research. When it comes to universities engaging in what the poll called "public and political debates that affect society," 28% said that universities should.

Lawmakers should stay out of college curricula, the respondents said. Sixty-six percent said that state legislatures should not control what is taught about U.S. history, 70% said they should not govern the teaching of evolution, and 74% said lawmakers should not wade into curriculum decisions about gender or sexual orientation. The government should not tell professors what to teach, 65% of those polled said.

“Overwhelmingly, people want politics kept out of the classroom,” said Vanderbilt Poll codirector Josh Clinton, the the Abby and Jon Winkelried Chairman at Vanderbilt and a professor of political science. “They don’t want professors using the classroom to push political views, and they don’t want politicians trying to dictate what happens in higher education. People want education to be about education.”

Respondents overwhelmingly said that the most important thing a student should get from college is the ability to think more logically. In contrast, 77% said moral growth is the most or very important.

“One of the clearest findings is that the public wants colleges to get back to basics,” said John Geer, codirector of the Vanderbilt Unity Poll and professor of political science. “When you ask about the core purposes of a college education, you see almost no political polarization. That is, progressives and MAGAites agree – a rare thing these days.”

Research indicates that Americans had the same views in the 1940s, according to Vanderbilt. A 1945 Roper/Fortune survey showed that 63% said the government should not tell a professor how to teach. Sixty-five percent of respondents to a 1949 survey said that colleges should present both sides for capitalism and socialism.

“Many observers think current debates about the nature of higher education are relatively new but they are not,” Geer said. “The country, for example, was debating the purpose, value and direction of higher education in the 1940s when the federal government made major investments in research and teaching during and after World War II.”

The majority of respondents, 62%, said a college degree is "worth it" and help students get a better job, according to the news release. But only 53% believe that it is "worth it" when the financial investment is considered.

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Kamala Harris Visits Nashville, Encourages Voting Without Endorsing Democrat Aftyn Behn

 The Democratic candidate in the 7th District special election left the event before the former vice president arrived

Former Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at Hadley Park on Tuesday afternoon to rally votes for the District 7 special election. Credit: Martin B. Cherry / Nashville Banner

Nashville Banner, Nov. 19, 2025- Scores of Nashvillians packed into a pavilion at Hadley Park on Tuesday afternoon as former Vice President Kamala Harris came to a Tennessee Democratic Party event to encourage voting in the District 7 special election. 

But Harris and State Rep. Aftyn Behn (D-Nashville), the party’s nominee with an unusual chance in the off-cycle election in a typically red district, did not cross paths or acknowledge each other directly at the event. 

In a bizarre campaign move, Behn left about five minutes before Harris’ motorcade pulled up to the pavilion, sending the crowd into a frenzy. 

“I have a bunch of events. I have stuff I have to go to, but I’m so excited for who’s coming, and deeply honoured that you all are here today,” Behn told the crowd during a minute-long speech. She did not name Harris but urged voter turnout. .... Behn told the Banner she had a “huge fundraiser” to attend at a downtown law firm. ...  former vice president...in town for her book tour

Though she has primarily campaigned on affordability and avoided more divisive topics, Behn, a progressive Democrat, is generally to the left of Harris, a moderate.  (read more)

Rod's Comment: Okay, can someone tell me what is going on here? I suspect Harris wants to give the presidency another shot and does not want to be tied to the far left of the party, but maybe I'm missing something. It seems to me, that Harris has taken positions every bit as woke progressive as Aftyn Behn, but maybe she doesn't want any recent reminders? One would think Aftyn Behn would have stuck around for a photo with Harris, if nothing else. Was it prearranged that they would not be on the same stage together? I am not buying that Behn had to rush off to a fundraiser party and couldn't delay her arrival by a few minutes. 

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Trump Defends Saudi Crown Prince Over Khashoggi Killing. "Things Happen."

President Donald Trump and Crown Prince and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Tuesday in the Oval Office. (Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post)

by Rod Williams, Nov. 18, 2025- As reported in the Washington Post today, President Trump defended Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman over the killing of Washington Post opinion columnist Jamal Khashoggi, saying “things happen” and that he did not hold the Saudi leader responsible for the 2018 murder despite a U.S. intelligence report assessing the opposite.

The Post article says, "Trump’s dismissive language offered the highest-level confirmation yet that Mohammed will face few consequences for the killing, as the crown prince makes his first visit to Washington since Khashoggi was dismembered in a Saudi consulate in Turkey."

Mohammed was in Washington for a meeting with Trump and received a grand welcome from Trump at the White House, greeted at the South Portico with an honor guard of black horses and herald trumpeters. 

“A lot of people didn’t like that gentleman that you’re talking about, Trump said of Khashho. Whether you like him or didn’t like him, things happen, but [Mohammed] knew nothing about it,” Trump said in response to a question about Khashoggi. “And we can leave it at that. You don’t have to embarrass our guest by asking a question like that.” Trump called the crown prince “one of the most respected people in the world.”

There is a lot about Trump that disgusts me, but this seems to encapsulate his lack of human decency. I accept that unless nations are at war, they must be civil and have relations. The US had friendly relations with Nazi Germany up until we did not. American presidents have had civil meetings with the worst dictators of the world. It is sometimes a necessity. We need to act diplomatically, even with mass murderers at times. One does not have to roll out the red carpet for them and have lavish ceremonies honoring them, however. One can be civil and discuss issues of mutual interest without excusing the inexcusable.

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Trump faces Reality, Implements Major Rollback of Food Tariffs

Rod Williams, Nov. 17, 2025- If Donald J. Trump were not an economic illiterate, he would know that a tariff is a tax and like a local sales tax, raises the price to the consumer. Maybe he does know it and thinks it is worth it to onshore production of tariffed items, or maybe he has just now learned it. If he just now learned it, he is teachable. If he knew it all along, he is a liar.

In any event, I am pleased to see President Trump reduce the tariffs on coffee, bananas, beef, tomatoes and about a hundred other common food items, including fruits, nuts and spices. I need my daily Brazil nut and I have grown fond of coffee. 

Trump has alleged for a long time that he was collecting tariffs from foreign countries. That is simply not true. The importer pays the tariff. That is not debatable; it is a fact.  It is true that an exporter may eat some of the tax, by reducing his profit margin, and so may the importer and the retailer, but most of the tax is passed on to the consumer. In any event the import tax is paid by the importer and allmost all of it is passed on the consumer. Market competition at each level of production until final purchase keeps profit margins very low.  The average profit margin for grocery stores is around 2.2%. There is little room for the grocer to absorb much of the tax. When Donald Trump brags about all of the money he has raised from tariffs, he is bragging about all of the money taken out of consumers' pockets.

Trump could have stuck to his guns, I guess, and all but the wealthy would have learned to drink coffee that was made from ground chicory. It would take a long time to onshore coffee and bananas. Maybe with Trump tacitly admitting that tariffs cause price increases to the consumer, some of Trump's supporters will stop believing everything he says. Some may; for others, there is no hope.

 

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TN-07 Looks Like it Could Flip for the Democrats

by Rod Williams, Nov. 16, 2025- The above analysis shows that the 7th Congressional District is winnable by the Democratic nominee Aftyn Behn. It is hard to believe, but the analysis seems solid. 

I have not voted yet and am in a quandary about what to do. On the one hand, I think Trump needs to be stopped, Congress needs to reassert its authority, and Congress needs to conduct oversight.  I see Trump as a threat to America's continued existence as a democracy.  Republicans in Congress have shown no appetite for holding Trump accountable. In the abstract, I want to see Democrats retake the House. 

On the other hand, the Democratic voters of Tennessee's seventh congressional district nominated the most progressive candidate of the candidates running. Aftyn Behn has been a community organizer for Tennessee Justice Center and a community organizer for Indivisible and has advocated for an end to cash bail, defunding the police, and abolishing the Electoral College, and has advocated rolling back Tennessee's restriction on child genital mutilation procedures commonly called "gender affirming care." (1)  She has the endorsement of the Progressive Democrats of America.

As much as I want to see Trump's march toward authoritarianism stopped, I don't think I can vote for Aftyn Behn. I could have voted for Bo Mitchell; but not Aftyn Behn. I held my nose in 2024 and voted for Kamala Harris. That does not mean I will continue to vote for far-left candidates,  especially candidates for lesser offices.

I have watched videos and debates and visited his website, and familiarized myself with Republican candidate Matt Van Epps. I voted in the Republican primary and voted for him. I familiarized myself with all the Republican candidates running and perceived Van Epps to be the best-qualified and least Trumpy of the field. In this year's primary, I had to vote early due to being out of town on election day, and between the time I voted and primary election day, President Trump endorsed Van Epps. I was quite surprised. If I believed VanEpps would stand firm for conservative values against Trump's authoritarian nationalism, and he would not be just another Trump lackey, he would get my vote. 

If this were normal times, I would not think twice about for whom I would vote. Looking simply at their position on the issues, I would vote for Van Epps in a heartbeat. There would be no contest. However, these are not normal times.  Checking Trump's authoritarianism is the issue that may trump all others for me, but even that has limits. I can vote center-left in order to check Trump; I am not sure I can vote far-left. When I chose to vote for Harris over Trump, more was at stake. I was actually voting for who would occupy the highest office in the land, and Trump had attempted a coup, and Harris had not. In voting for one of 435 House members, less is at stake so the weight of the pressure to vote against my principles in order to curtail Trump's authoritarian polices is less intense. 

When Democrats did not stand a chance of winning the 7th, I had decided my vote didn't matter and I would just sit out the election. Now, that my vote would matter, I still may sit out the election but can not do so with the same peace of mind.

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