Stephen Fowler

Well, it's math.

Republicans have a narrow House majority and fractious coalitions.

This gives them one more vote until Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene resigns in a few weeks.

Here's more math.

In 60 state legislative and congressional special elections this year,

Democrats have improved from their 2024 margins by an average of 13%.

Those elections were typically low turnout, low profile contests where Democrats were more likely to vote.

So given Trump's margins in this Tennessee district, super PACs from both parties poured more than $6.5 million in recent weeks into making this a high turnout, high profile contest.

where Democrats still ended up improving their margins by 13%.

Well, the final margin of the race means both parties can, with a straight face, declare a victory moving forward.

That's because Republicans motivated their base without Trump being on the ballot.

Van Epps said in victory remarks that, quote,

Democrats are putting 2024's losses behind them and have also motivated their base, who's been pretty sour on the party as a whole.

And they seem to also have persuaded independents that Republican governance won't solve key issues.

Well, Steve, one candidate decried career politicians and promised to bring down prices, create good paying jobs and lower health care costs for working families.

The other candidate promised to shake up Washington by making health care more affordable, bringing down the cost of living and protect workers and small businesses.

If you're wondering which one was a Republican and which was a Democrat, you're not alone.

It was pretty hard to tell them apart on this issue, which was also notable for the candidate's lack of talking about Trump.

Well, clearly the economy is top of mind.

Republicans are figuring out how to address those concerns about costs without explicitly crossing Trump.