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Democratic National Committee chair Ken Martin will travel to Tennessee on Saturday to campaign for congressional candidate Aftyn Behn, who is running in a deep-red district in a December special election — a sign of Democratic bullishness coming off of positive election results on Tuesday. The campaign trip, shared first with NBC News, comes ahead of the Dec. 2 special election to fill Tennessee's 7th Congressional District, which was left vacant after former GOP Rep. Mark Green resigned earlier this year. In an interview with NBC News, Martin said that Behn has “an excellent shot to win,” despite the district being solid red in the past. Last year, Green beat his Democratic challenger by more than 20 points, and President Donald Trump carried the district by a similar margin. Special elections can be different, and Democrats have frequently outperformed the 2024 presidential election results in state legislative and congressional specials in 2025 — though only rarely by the margins Behn would need. Martin will hold a canvass launch event in Nashville, where he will also knock on doors, the DNC shared. Special elections typically have lower voter turnout, and Martin emphasized mobilizing voters. "Special elections are really interesting affairs because you really don't know who's going to show up," Martin said. "And so I've seen us win elections in very deep red districts, and I've seen us in special elections lose elections in deep blue districts." Martin said during the interview that "special elections really aren't about the partisan lean or partisan makeup of a district." "It's about whose supporters are more enthusiastic," he added. "And right now, what we've seen across the country is that Democrats are very enthusiastic right now to show up and vote, and Republicans aren't." That raises the question of whether having the national Democratic Party show up in the district might mobilize Republicans. Asked whether it would be helpful for the DNC chair to campaign in a district this red, Martin said that Tuesday’s elections demonstrated "that we can compete everywhere.” “I said when I ran for this job that when you organize everywhere, you can win anywhere, and we just fundamentally believe that,” Martin said. Behn, a Democratic state representative, is facing off against Republican nominee Matt Van Epps, a former state official who won Trump's endorsement in the primary. The district comprises deep-red counties but also parts of Nashville and the city’s surroundings, which are blue. Martin said that Behn was "focused on a message around affordability," which was also a dominant theme of the elections in Virginia and New Jersey. "People who put their faith and trust in Donald Trump are feeling very disillusioned right now, and she is offering them a positive message about how their lives could be different and improved with her in power," Martin said. The trip comes as after Democrats swept Tuesday's elections in Virginia and New Jersey. Then-Vice President Kamala Harris won both states in 2024, though by smaller margins than past Democratic presidential nominees, and the state elections this fall were viewed as important signals about both parties' political standing. "Our focus is going to be on offering the antidote to this administration, which is a hopeful, joyful, optimistic vision on how we can actually help people afford their lives and get ahead," Martin said.
