Trump-backed candidate wins crowded GOP primary in battle for vacant House seat

President Donald Trump’s political muscle in Republican nomination races was on full display Tuesday as a candidate he endorsed last week won a crowded and competitive GOP special election primary for a vacant congressional seat in Tennessee.

Trump-backed Matt Van Epps, a former commissioner of the Tennessee Department of General Services, came out on top in a field of 11 Republican candidates vying to fill the seat in the state’s solidly red 7th Congressional District, according to the Associated Press.

Van Epps will now be the favorite in the Dec. 2 general election in the race to succeed former Republican Rep. Mark Green, who resigned from office in June to take a private sector job.

Trump’s endorsement of Van Epps in a field that also included state Reps. Jody Barrett, Gino Bulso and Lee Reeves, shaped the outcome of the primary battle even though the president’s backing came after the finish of early voting in the contest.

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The race among the major GOP contenders turned into a test of loyalty to Trump, and with the president’s endorsement, Reeves suspended his campaign and backed Van Epps.

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“Matt knows the WISDOM and COURAGE required to Defend our Country, Support our Incredible Military/Veterans, and Ensure PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH,” Trump said in his endorsement statement.

Van Epps, who was also endorsed by Green and Republican Gov. Bill Lee, called Trump’s support “an incredible honor.”

And on Monday night, on the eve of the primary, the president joined Van Epps for a tele-rally that was co-hosted by the politically influential conservative outside group Club for Growth, which also backed Van Epps.

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Trump carried the district, which is located in central and western Tennessee and stretches from Kentucky to Alabama, by roughly 20 points in last year’s presidential election.

Van Epps, a lieutenant colonel in the Tennessee Army National Guard and a former Army helicopter pilot, was also backed by prominent House Republican Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio.

But Barrett, who touted that he is the “most conservative state rep. in Tennessee history,” had the support of the political arm of the House Freedom Caucus, which spent heavily in the primary race.

Four major Democrats were running for their party’s nomination. They were state Reps. Vincent Dixie, Aftyn Behn, Bo Mitchell and businessman Darden Copeland.

Republicans currently control the House 219-213, with two vacancies: the seat in Tennessee and Texas 18th Congressional District, following the death earlier this year of Democratic Rep. Sylvester Turner.

Democratic Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva, who won a special congressional election in Arizona last month, has yet to be sworn in.