Democrat Aftyn Behn Pressed on ‘Defund the Police’ Past Ahead of Tennessee Special Election

With just days remaining before voters decide the December 2 special election in Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District, Democratic nominee Aftyn Behn is back in the spotlight — this time over resurfaced tweets and activist statements about abolishing or defunding police departments.

Behn, a progressive state representative trying to flip a deeply Republican seat last held by Rep. Mark Green, was pressed during a recent appearance on MS Now after anchor Catherine Rampell confronted her with several deleted posts from 2020–2021. These included:

• A tweet asking, “Where’s the proposal that dissolves @MNPDNashville?”

  
  

• Support for a teachers-union demand insisting on “defund the police” as a requirement for school reopening

  
  

• A post praising polling that suggested some Americans believed burning down a police station could be justified

  
  

Mediaite reported that when pressed on whether she still stood by those comments, Behn declined to answer directly, responding that she wouldn’t engage in “cable news talking points.”(Source: Mediaite)

Fox News and RedState both highlighted the moment as a key vulnerability for Behn, noting her refusal to clarify whether she disavowed her past remarks.(Sources: Fox News; RedState)

Additional audio also resurfaced this week from a podcast in which Behn declared: “I hate this city… I hate the pedal taverns, I hate the bachelorettes, I hate country music,” referring to Nashville.(Source: FOX17 Nashville)

National Democratic groups have still poured in significant resources for her race — including a $1 million boost from the House Majority PAC — despite TN-07 being rated Safe Republican and having voted heavily for Donald Trump.(Source: Politico; AP News)

The Republican candidate, Matt Van Epps, has seized on the policing controversy as evidence that Behn’s political views are far to the left of the district’s preferences, especially in rural communities where law-and-order messaging traditionally performs strongly.

Bottom Line

With early voting already underway, the reemergence of Behn’s anti-police comments has complicated Democratic hopes of narrowing the margin in Tennessee-07. While flipping the district remains unlikely, the political fallout from these remarks may influence future Democratic messaging in rural Southern districts — a dynamic covered in BallotBlog.com’s earlier analysis linked above.

Sources

• Mediaite — MS Now exchange and deleted tweets

• Fox News — Behn’s past “defund the police” and “burn the police station” remarks

• FOX17 Nashville — resurfaced “I hate this city” audio

• Politico — House Majority PAC spending

• AP News — TN-07 background and candidate profiles

• RedState — conservative reaction to the MS Now interview