President Donald Trump has encouraged a retired Navy SEAL to challenge Republican Rep. Thomas Massie in next year’s Kentucky primary.

Matt Van Epps, a former commissioner in Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee’s administration, has won a crowded Republican primary in the special election to replace a GOP congressman who left office this summer.

A Tennessee special election to replace a Republican congressman who stepped aside this summer has attracted crowded primaries for both major parties.

More than a dozen candidates will compete for their parties’ nominations Tuesday to fill a vacant Tennessee congressional seat in the closely divided U.S. House.