National
On Tuesday night, Republicans won a crucial special election in the U.S. House, albeit while expectedly underperforming the 2024 results.
Matt Van Epps (R) is now the Congressman-elect for TN-07, a western-central Tennessee district that was vacated by Congressman Mark Green (R) upon his resignation in July to pursue a private sector opportunity.
TN-07 also includes parts of Davidson County, home to Nashville, one of two deep-blue dots in otherwise ruby-red Tennessee. That was long considered the potential chokepoint for Republicans in this special election.
According to The New York Times’ unofficial results, Van Epps won by about nine points – 53.9% to State Representative Aftyn Behn’s (D-TN) 45.0%. It’s a far cry from the 2024 numbers, wherein former Congressman Green won by twenty-one points, the same night Donald Trump (R-FL) won the district by twenty-two points.
The margin isn’t a huge shock, as special elections often draw narrower results for the typically favored party, especially going into a midterm year that conventional wisdom dictates tough national headwinds for the typically favored party. Republicans have underperformed in all but a handful of state and local special elections across the country, as well as House specials in Florida in April and Virginia and Arizona in September.
But what some expected to be a razor-thin race was a more obdurate Republican hold. The near-ten-point margin was beyond what Emerson College was tracking in their late November polls – a Van Epps lead of just two points in both surveys. A Behn win not only would have been a historic overperformance but a stunning upset in a two-candidate special House election.
While Van Epps carried every other county or county portion besides Davidson – and by handy margins – Behn, however, overperformed relative to 2024 in all fourteen counties that are either entirely or partially contained within TN-07. Her largest overperformance in the district was the Davidson County portion, which registered as twenty points more Democratic than the presidential vote. Behn overperformed in every county by at least 7.5% – not a negligible swing. The map shows Behn’s overperformance by county in increments of 5%, shaded by color.
This occurred while Behn was branded as “Tennessee’s AOC”, a reference to Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D, NY-14). Behn also faced scrutiny for her past negative remarks on Nashville and defunding the police.
Van Epps will join the House caucus as its 219th vote, one short of the 220-seat quorum Republicans earned last year and one seat north of the 218-seat bare-minimum requirement for a majority.
The fallout among the House Republican caucus continues as another member declared his retirement ahead of the 2026 midterms.
Congressman Troy Nehls (R, TX-22) announced on Saturday that he will not seek a fourth term next year. Nehls was elected to the Greater Houston district in 2020. He previously served as Sheriff of Fort Bend County from 2013 to 2021.
Nehls said that he consulted with President Trump before making his announcement, stating on social media, “President Trump has always been a strong ally for our district and a true friend, and I wanted him to hear it from me first.”
In an unprecedented move, Nehls has tapped his twin brother, Trever, to replace him.
However, anonymous sources within the Republican party say that more retirements and even mid-term resignations are on the horizon, with the explosive resignation of Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (R, GA-14) setting the fallout in motion.
This brings the total of retiring House members to thirty-nine – sixteen Democrats and twenty-three Republicans. Seven Democrats and eighteen Republicans are seeking other offices.
The nation is still reeling from the shooting of two National Guardsmen in the District of Columbia that left one dead and another critically wounded.
On November 26, two members of the West Virginia National Guard who were deployed to Washington, D.C.’s, Farragut West Metro Station were shot. Sarah Beckstrom, 20, of Summersville, West Virginia, succumbed to her injuries on November 27. Andrew Wolfe, 24, of Martinsburg, West Virginia, remains in critical condition.
Law enforcement officials have described the shooting as an ambush-style attack that produced ten to fifteen shots from a .357 Magnum Smith & Wesson revolver.
The suspect is Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, an Afghan national from the Khost Province. He entered the U.S. on September 8, 2021, under Operation Allies Welcome. The program was implemented to help vulnerable Afghans relocate for two years without permanent immigration status. He was last reported living in Bellingham, Washington, with his wife and five children. He applied for asylum in 2024 and was granted asylum in April of this year.
Lakanwal’s past also consists of his work for a CIA-backed “Zero Unit” of the Afghan National Directorate of Security in the Kandahar Province. The “Zero Units” were paramilitary groups trained for ambush raids on suspected members of the Taliban. A friend of Lakanwal said that the suspect suffered from mental health issues and trauma by the operations that his unit conducted. CNN has reported that Lakanwal first worked with the CIA in 2011 at the age of 15.
State
A lawsuit filed on behalf of four New York State voters is on deck to challenge the Empire State’s current congressional maps, arguing that one district in New York City is an unconstitutional racial gerrymander.
The lawsuit alleges that the Staten Island-based NY-11 dilutes the voting power of black and Latino voters. NY-11 has been represented by Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis (R, NY-11) since 2021, when she ousted one-term Congressman Max Rose (D) to flip it red. Malliotakis is the only Republican representing New York City in Congress. Containing all of Staten Island and the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Bay Ridge, Bath Beach, Dyker Heights, Gravesend, Sheepshead Bay, and Bensonhurst, it is one of the Republican-leaning urban districts in the country.
Its demographics are 51.4% white, 20.6% Asian, 18.3% Hispanic, 6.5% black, and the remainder spread among other races.
Plaintiffs in the case allege that the district was drawn without accounting for the rise in Staten Island’s black and Latino populations. They argue that the conservative enclave should be reconfigured to include parts of lower Manhattan.
In a statement, Malliotakis claimed that the case is “frivolous” and that the district’s lines were enacted by the state’s IRC, as well as the Democrat-controlled State Legislature and Governor Kathy Hochul (D).
If the plaintiffs prevail, New York would have its third mid-decade redraw on the grounds of litigation since 2021. Democrats originally drew a brutal gerrymander in 2021, which was overturned and gave way to the map drawn by special master Johnathan Cervas. That map stood for 2022, effectively allowing Republicans to take control of the U.S. House.
Ahead of 2024, the map was challenged again since the map was not drawn by the state’s IRC. Democrats then took the helm and drew a slightly different map, but one that allowed them to pick up three seats in last year’s election.
Governor Hochul was one of the nation’s first Democratic leaders to pledge a counter to the GOP-drawn Texas gerrymander in August. However, such an action is not likely to be done in time for 2026. That effort requires a map’s passage in two consecutive legislation sessions – 2026 and 2027 – before a public referendum approves it.
Local
Suffolk’s own MacArthur Airport (ISP) is now adding new nonstop flights to Myrtle Beach.
Beginning on May 6, 2026, Breeze Airways will service the route two times weekly – Wednesdays and Saturdays – on its Airbus A220 aircraft with its signature “Nice, Nicer, and Nicest” seating.
Flights are now available for booking with fares as low as $69 at flybreeze.com.
“Breeze Airways continues to grow at Islip’s MacArthur Airport to the delight of both Long Island residents and visitors enjoying our legendary convenience as they explore our beautiful region and connect with family and friends,” said Islip Town Supervisor Angie Carpenter (R-West Islip) in a statement. “Our local community and loyal ISP travelers have been asking for more service to Myrtle Beach, and we’re grateful Breeze Airways has recognized another opportunity to serve our customers.”
The South Carolina destination makes for Breeze’s ninth nonstop locale directly from ISP. Since 2022, the airline’s average daily departures and seats have increased by over 425% and over 516%, respectively.
“All ISP Breeze Airways flights are to destinations customers can find on Breeze only at Long Island MacArthur Airport, not at JFK or La Guardia,” said Islip Town Councilman John Lorenzo (C-West Sayville) in a statement. “Other ‘Only At ISP’ features that passengers will enjoy include an excellent customer experience with the convenience of close parking, quick gate access, and an efficient TSA security screening operation.”
In addition to Myrtle Beach, Breeze also flies to Charleston, South Carolina; Fort Myers, Sarasota, and Vero Beach, Florida; Wilmington and Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina; and Richmond and Norfolk, Virginia.
“MacArthur Airport is a resource for all Long Island, bringing good jobs and opportunities to our region,” said Mitch Pally, Discover Long Island Interim President & CEO, in a statement. “It’s the easy, go-to airport for Long Islanders heading on a vacation or traveling for business. These new Breeze flights to Myrtle Beach will also bring visitors to Long Island to enjoy the Fire Island National Seashore, Long Island’s East End, our excellent dining and winery choices, charming villages, historic lighthouses and much more.”
