Democratic congressional hopeful Aftyn Behn struggled to answer for her past tweets during a Sunday interview, raising new questions about her bid to flip Tennessee’s deep-red Seventh District just days before the special election. When asked about posts in which she called to defund and even dissolve the Nashville police department, Behn dismissed the issue as a “cable news talking point.”
“Um, I’m, yeah, I’m not going engage in, in, in, uh, cable news talking points,” she said on MS NOW’s The Weekend Primetime, before adding, “I don’t remember these tweets.” Behn then pivoted, insisting she was focused on “local people deciding… local problems with local solutions.”
When pressed again, she refused to clarify: “Once again, I’m here to talk about my race, which is in literally nine days.”
Behn’s now-deleted posts paint a different picture. In 2020, she endorsed dissolving Nashville’s police department, supported defunding police as a requirement for reopening schools, and wrote, “[G]ood morning, especially to the 54% of Americans that believe burning down a police station is justified.” The stance conflicts sharply with the priorities of voters in a district where former congressman Mark Green ran—and won—on a pro-police platform by more than 20 points.
Recent polling from the Nashville Police + Public Safety Alliance found residents believe hiring more officers is key to improving safety. Behn’s alignment with the Knoxville chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, combined with past remarks calling Tennessee “racist” and saying “I hate this city,” further complicates her appeal.
Behn faces Republican Matt Van Epps, a former state commissioner likely to benefit from the district’s conservative lean and its voters’ strong support for law enforcement.
