Democrats lost a hard-fought special election in a deep-red Tennessee congressional district, but CNN's Harry Enten said the results should send a shiver down Republicans' spines.
Republican Matt Van Epps defeated Democratic state Rep. Aftyn Behn in a district President Donald Trump won by nearly 22 points last year, and Enten told "CNN News Central" the results predicted a midterm beatdown looming for the GOP.
"Republicans should be running for the hills this morning because the blue wave is building," Enten said. "What are we talking about here? Well, Van Epps, Matt Van Epps, the Republican candidate, he won it by nine. But this is a district that Donald Trump won by 22 points – 15 points, 17 points. This is a 13-point gain for the Democrats in terms of the margin, and excuse time for Republicans is over because I hear all about these special elections, all the turnout so low. It's not representative of what happened in the midterm election. The turnout last night in Tennessee's seventh district was equal to the turnout in the 2022 midterm election. So the blue wave, it seems to be building right out of center of Tennessee."
Democrats have outperformed Kamala Harris in each of this year's special elections, in Arizona, Florida, Texas, Virginia and now Tennessee, and Enten said that strongly suggests gains in next year's election.
"We have seen the Democratic outperformance of Kamala Harris happening across the political map," Enten said. "What happened last night in Tennessee ain't just staying in Tennessee. It is spreading itself throughout the nation. As I said, to me, looking at these these results, it looks like a blue wave is building."
"You know, so we're looking at these special elections," he added. "You know, we're sort of applying these hypothetical numbers, right, in terms, oh, Democrats would gain north of 40 seats if you moved everything over, you know, 13 points from the 2024 presidential result. But we actually have history to show that what happens in special elections doesn't just stay in special elections. It spills over to the midterm results, special elections and midterm results. I just keep going to this. When a party outperformed in special elections since 2005, five out of five times, they went on to win a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives. What happened last night in Tennessee is a very, very bad omen for Republicans and a very, very good omen for Democrats."
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