During their coverage of Tuesday night's special Congressional election in Tennessee's 7th Congressional District, CNN, like many in the mainstream media, attempted to turn what turned out to be a 9-point win for Republican Matt Van Epps into some kind of victory for Democrat loser Aftyn Behn and her party. But that wasn't all. CNN actually gave viewers inaccurate and outdated information regarding the results, and the status of the election itself, while looking like they acted to protect Behn.
It had been the narrative of Democrats, and the liberal media, that even if Van Epps and the GOP won and held on to the seat given up by Mark Green, who resigned in July, Democrats could still claim 'victory', by losing by less than they did last November, when Green and Donald Trump both won the district by around 20 points. That number was brought up again and again, pushing the narrative. Kaitlan Collins used it a couple of times during an interview with eventual loser Behn, before throwing it to John King, who she quickly interrupted just 30 seconds after saying good-bye to Behn.
KING: Well, she is about to be involved. Kaitlan, in one of the fascinating conversations that is happening all across the country as Democrats try to think about, do we go left or do we go center as we head into the 2026 midterms? Who are our best candidates? So..
COLLINS: John, can I can I pause you just for one moment? Because we can now make a projection in this race. CNN can project that Matt Van Epps, the Republican in this race, is going to be the next representative of the Seventh Congressional District and Tennessee winning this special election... But but continue with what you think the biggest takeaways will be.
Did CNN not know they had called the race when Behn was still on with them thirty seconds prior? Wouldn't that have been a great opportunity for a first reaction? Were they protecting the feelings of the losing Democrat?
Collins then threw it back to King who was ready with a rah rah pep talk -- 5-much pep -- for Democrats.
KING: She [Behn] just made a very important point to you, and a very factual point to you. She has made this a much, much, much, much, much closer race than just a year ago when Donald Trump and the then Republican incumbent, Mark Green carried this district by 22 points....We're at 83% of the vote counted... But you've got a four point race...Simple math for the people at home, 22 to somewhere in the ballpark of four or five, that's huge, huge progress for the democrats.
He seemed ecstatic. When Laura Coates took over thirty minutes later, things got really bizarre. Of course she kept the narrative going, claiming that, "Democrats do fall just short in a deep-red Tennessee House race."
COATES: .There are close calls and then there are warning signs. And the lights may be flashing red at the GOP headquarters tonight. They're holding on to a critical Congressional seat in ruby red Tennessee. But the results, hardly what they want heading into 2026, even for a special election. One that saw the Republican candidate Mike Van Epps win for the Seventh Congressional District. But he's only leading Democrat Aftyn Behn by seven points...
She said SEVEN, while the Graphic on the screen showed an 8.9% difference. And she said "Mike Van Epps," not "Matt."
Later, addressing DNC Chair Ken Martin, she lowered the margin of victory even more. "But she (Behn) did lose by a couple of points in a district as described went overwhelmingly for Trump." The dictionary says "a couple" means two.
Inaccurate, again, but nothing compared to the crawl, the headlines that scroll by on the bottom of the screen. CNN had called the race at 9:29 pm ET. But starting at 10:37, on NewsNight with Abby Phillip, and repeated five more times after that, through the Coates show, this is what viewers saw 'crawling' across their screen:
"Tuesday's Special Election in Tennessee's 7th Congressional District, normally a conservative stronghold, is giving Democrats hope that their recently successful message of affordability can help them spring a major upset. The contest pits Trump backed Republican Matt Van Epps against Democrat State Rep. Aftyn Behn. The winner will replace former Rep Mark Green who resigned in July..."
CNN had called the race, it was over! That crawl was for PRIOR to the election. Wrong margin, outdated information, letting the loser go just before announcing that she had lost. Maybe had they not been so obsessed with pushing their political agenda, CNN would have gotten it right.
