House Speaker Mike Johnson ceremonially swears in Rep. Matt Van Epps, with his wife Meg Wrather and their daughter Amelia Van Epps, on his daughter’s pink Bible at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 4, 2025. (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)
But the Republican number will drop back to 219 early next month, when Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, a MAGA firebrand who had a falling out with Trump, resigns.
There are 213 Democrats in the House, with two Democrat-held seats currently vacant. The late Democratic Rep. Sylvester Turner of Texas died in March, but a special election to fill the seat won't be held until Jan. 31.
TRUMP-BACKED REPUBLICAN KEEPS CRUCIAL CONGRESSIONAL SEAT IN GOP HANDS
And now-former Democratic Rep. Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey resigned last month after winning the Garden State's gubernatorial election. A special election to fill the vacant seat will be held in April.
Van Epps on Tuesday defeated Democratic congressional nominee Aftyn Behn in the race to succeed former GOP Rep. Mark Green, who resigned from office in June to take a private sector job.
Matt Van Epps greets supporters outside a polling station on Election Day, in Franklin, Tennessee, on Dec. 2, 2025. (Paul Steinhauser/Fox News)
Trump carried the district — which is located in central and western Tennessee, stretches from Kentucky to Alabama, and includes parts of Nashville — by 22 points in last year's presidential election. And Green won the district by over 20 points in his 2022 and 2024 re-elections.
But Democrats, energized after decisive victories last month in the 2025 elections, eyed flipping the seat, and national Democratic and Republican groups poured millions of dollars into the race.
Van Epps ended up topping Behn by roughly 9 points, thanks in part to high turnout for a special election held during the holiday season.
In a sign of the importance of keeping the seat in GOP hands, Johnson traveled to Tennessee and campaigned at a slew of events with Van Epps on election eve.
"We cannot take anything for granted. Since I became speaker, I presided over some of the smallest majorities in history. Every seat counts," Johnson said in a Fox News Digital interview on Monday morning.
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And Johnson highlighted that "special elections are strange because a lot of people take for granted in a deep red district like this that the Republicans are just going to win automatically. Nothing's automatic."
Fox News' Kelly Phares contributed to this report.
Paul Steinhauser is a politics reporter based in the swing state of New Hampshire. He covers the campaign trail from coast to coast."
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/defending-majority-trump-backed-van-epps-sworn-220th-house-republican