Tipsheet

Meet Aftyn Behn, the Radical Leftist Democrat Running for Congress in Tennessee's Special Election

Amy Curtis
Amy Curtis  |  November 20, 2025 11:45 AM

On December 2, Tennessee voters in the state's seventh congressional district will go to the polls in a special election to replace Rep. Mark Green, who resigned earlier this year to work in the private sector.

Democrats are hoping to flip a seat in a district that voted for President Trump by 20 points, and they're pulling out the big guns to do it. Kamala Harris made a stop in Nashville on November 18 to campaign for the Democratic Party candidate, Aftyn Behn, according to The New York Times.

“Why am I in Tennessee? Because I know the power is in the South,” Ms. Harris said into a bullhorn at Hadley Park in Nashville. She did not mention Ms. Behn by name but urged the crowd to get out the vote in two weeks.

“This election is 14 days from today!” she said. Several of the students, phone cameras held high, were not registered to vote in the district, but said they appreciated Ms. Harris drawing attention to their campuses and the state of Tennessee politics.

Ms. Behn spoke before Ms. Harris’s arrival, telling the crowd the election was “the most competitive race in America.”

Behn is facing off against Matt Van Epps, the Republican former state commissioner. In recent polling reported by Newsweek, Van Epps leads Behn by a healthy margin. An Impact Social poll has Van Epps ahead 52-44, a similar margin to an internal poll conducted by Behn's campaign. Green won his seat by a 22-point margin.

However, recently surfaced audio of Behn absolutely dumping on Nashville (one of the cities she's supposed to represent in Congress) may throw a wrench in the Democrats' plans to flip the House seat.

"I hate the city, I hate the bachelorettes, I hate the pedal taverns, I hate country music, I hate all of the things that make Nashville apparently an 'it city' to the rest of the country," Behn says, laughing, "but I hate it."

Yikes.

But that's not the only issue Behn's had. Back in May, Republican Rep. Andy Ogles (TN-05) shared a video of Behn and a friend "stalking the Tennessee Highway Patrol" and openly admitting they were trying to stop law enforcement from doing their jobs.

In 2019, Behn wrote that Tennessee voters are "racist" and "racism is in the air we breathe, permeating the State Capitol."

She also blasted southern sororities as a "staple of white supremacy."

"I lived in the sorority house," Behn said. "I mean, what a staple of white supremacy are southern sororities."

Van Epps also linked Behn to the radical Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani, who is the next mayor of New York City.

"I think he helps," Behn said. "I mean, his message is one of helping working families across New York. My message is one of helping working families across Tennessee."

She also said we had to elect Joe Biden in 2020, because Donald Trump is a fascist.

"We have to elect Joe Biden, because the other option is fascism and authoritarianism.  But to see these white women move left is, like, very empowering," Behn said.