Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) encouraged Tennessee voters to turn out for who he calls “one of the best candidates,” Matt Van Epps, instead of “homegrown Marxist” Aftyn Behn.
“Look, this lady was educated in Knoxville, Tennessee, my hometown,” Burchett said of Behn on Fox News’s America’s Newsroom on Tuesday. “We need to wake up to what’s going on. It’s not these people moving in from California, or New York, or Chicago, even. It is our own homegrown Marxists that we’re bringing up. We have to start paying attention to our base and what the heck is going on. And Matt is one of the best candidates I’ve ever seen.”
“This is what happens when 12% of the population votes,” he added. “This is what we get. It should not even be a race. This lady is a Marxist, and she is not even a friendly Marxist like” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY).
Tennessee is fresh off a heavy rainstorm that hit Monday night, which Burchett warned could dampen voter turnout Tuesday.
“A half-inch of snow, it shuts the schools,” Burchett said.
Behn and Van Epps are vying for the seat of former Rep. Mark Green, who left Congress in June. Green, a Republican, won his general election with nearly 60% of the vote, and President Donald Trump won the district by over 22 points. However, the race has become unexpectedly close, with a poll conducted by Emerson College and the Hill finding that 48% of voters support Van Epps and 46% support Behn in the Tennessee special election.
With Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) resigning from Congress in the new year, House Republicans will have a slimmer majority of 218 seats to Democrats’ 213 seats.
FOUR QUESTIONS WAITING TO BE ANSWERED IN TENNESSEE RACE BETWEEN MATT VAN EPPS AND AFTYN BEHN
“We’re one vote series away from losing the republic,” Burchett said. “This is the proverbial canary in the cave.”
All polls across Tennessee’s seventh district will close at 7 p.m. Central time. The 7th District includes parts of Stewart, Montgomery, Houston, Robertson, Cheatham, Humphreys, Dickson, Decatur, Perry, Hickman, and Wayne counties, along with majorities of Benton, Davis, and Williamson counties.