When you’re running for public office, Rule No. 1 is pretty simple: don’t trash the very community, city, or state you’re trying to represent.
And yet here we are.
Aftyn Behn — a woke, pro-Mamdani Democrat in the Tennessee legislature — has managed to break that rule spectacularly, and at the worst possible moment. With less than two weeks before the special election in Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District, she’s now stuck defending remarks that make it sound like she can barely stand the place she wants to serve.
It’s the kind of political self-own only a progressive activist could pull off. Behn, the Democratic nominee in the contest, is attracting attention this week following remarks she made during a 2020 podcast regarding her dislike for Nashville that have come back to light.
“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 said at the time.
She’s also made a name for herself by trying to obstruct immigration enforcement operations in Tennessee — because of course she has. And if that weren’t enough, she penned a 2019 op-ed back when she was a community organizer, casually branding the people of her own state as racists.
So when you’re a candidate like Behn — someone with a whole stack of inconvenient receipts hanging over your head in a race against Trump-backed Republican Matt Van Epps — what’s the game plan?
For Behn, the answer has been predictable: lie, deny, deflect, and gaslight:
“Today, the republicans decided that they are going to start this narrative that me, the state representative who represents downtown Nashville, doesn’t like the city,” she said.
[…]
“Sure, I get mad at the bachelorettes sometimes, I get mad at the pedal taverns, right?” she said.
But she clarifies she does like Nashville as a whole.
“You are talking to someone who has cried no less than 10 times in the Country Music Hall of Fame,” said Behn.
NO, I DO NOT HATE THE CITY I REPRESENT ???
The national GOP's new attack? That I “hate Nashville." I’ve cried in the Country Music Hall of Fame no less than 10 times. They’re panicking because we’re close to winning. Eyes on the prize, y’all. Let’s go. pic.twitter.com/jjwMnyW8ZU
— Aftyn Behn for Congress (@aftynfortn) November 21, 2025
Absolutely – just like a self-hating lefty, she really does detest it. It’s all recorded:
?Democrat Aftyn Behn is running in the Tennessee 7th district special election.
The problem is she hates the very place she wants to represent!
“I hate the city…the bachelorettes…country music, I hate all of the things that make Nashville!" pic.twitter.com/erjoBdNmEs
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) November 20, 2025
The former representative of the 7th Congressional District, Mark Green, resigned in June to pursue a career in the private sector. Although it is regarded as a “safe R” district, both Democrats and Republicans have invested significant funds into it recently, with Democrats possibly sensing an opportunity after the November elections in Virginia and New Jersey, and Republicans clearly recognizing the need to safeguard their narrow majority in the House – especially now that Marjorie Taylor Greene is resigning.
Early voting is already underway, and Election Day for this one is December 2nd. If you live in the district and you’re a Republican, you know what to do: Go. Vote.
