Singer-songwriter Kid Rock is urging voters in Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District to vote for Republican nominee Matt Van Epps, saying that the choice between Van Epps and his Democratic opponent in the congressional race, State Representative Aftyn Behn (D-Nashville), “shouldn’t be rocket science.”
Trump-backed Van Epps appeared alongside the singer at his Nashville bar, Kid Rock’s Big Ass Honky Tonk Rock N’ Roll Steakhouse, in a video posted to social media on Tuesday.
BREAKING: COUNTRY MUSIC LEGEND KID ROCK ENDORSES MATT VAN EPPS 🎸
No lunatics in our Tennessee politics. TN07, vote red on December 2nd. 🇺🇸
Make your plan. Find your polling place: https://t.co/QlBjmbTW3d#MattforTN pic.twitter.com/SBeXyS5ZwU
— Matt Van Epps for Congress (@MattForTN) November 26, 2025
“It shouldn’t be rocket science, kids. You’ve got somebody who served our country…that’s willing to put America first against this left-wing lunatic nutjob…who said she not only hates Nashville, she hates country music. And also, she thinks if little Johnny goes to school and wants to be called Sarah, that the parents shouldn’t be notified; wants to defund the police,” the singer said in the video.
“Come on, people, if you want to live in a city like that, move to Portland. Let’s keep Tennessee conservative. Let’s keep it moving forward with people like Matt here, and let’s not let these lunatics into our politics,” he added.
Kid Rock’s remarks about Behn come as the Democratic candidate continues to face immense criticism on social media and in national news for resurfaced comments she has made over the last few years regarding her controversial policy stances and her “hate” for the city of Nashville and the state of Tennessee.
Among the resurfaced remarks Behn has been called out for in recent days are her comments in a 2020 interview where she said she “hates” the Nashville tourism scene and Music City itself, and a 2019 op-ed in The Tennessean in which she called Tennessee a “racist” state.
On top of this, she has been criticized for past comments, including her belief that the police should be “abolished” and defunded, her justification of looting and rioting, and her claim that men can “give birth.”
The race for the 7th District, an area in which both President Donald Trump and former U.S. House Representative Mark Green won their 2024 elections in 20-point landslides, is reportedly deadlocked, as a new poll released Wednesday by Emerson College Polling shows Van Epps leading Behn by just two points.
Election Day is Tuesday, December 2.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
Photo “Kid Rock and Matt Van Epps” by Matt Van Epps.
