Democratic Tennessee congressional candidate Aftyn Behn on Sunday defended her past alienating comments by noting she was a “private citizen” when she made them.
In 2020, Behn claimed she hated a number of features associated with the city of Nashville on the “Year old GRITS” podcast and also wrote anti-police tweets. On CNN’s “Inside Politics Sunday,” host Manu Raju asked Behn if she regretted making those statements.
“Some of your past tweets have gotten attention, including in 2020 when you posted, then deleted a post that said, ‘good morning, especially to the 54% of Americans that believe burning down a police station is justified.’ In another you appear supportive of a demand to ‘Defund the police.’ Do you regret posting those comments?” Raju asked.
“Yeah, I said that during the George Floyd moment when the entire country was demanding accountability and safer policing. And what I’ve always believed is that communities need investment — they need investment to be safe,” Behn said. “They need investment in mental health responders, first responders, and youth programs to reduce that crime. And, you know, I was a private citizen back then, and now I’m a lawmaker.”
She added that her constituents want safety and increased affordability and that she was focused on those issues.
“So should you not have posted those?” Raju pressed.
“Like I said, I’m a lawmaker now and so I wouldn’t post things like that now and haven’t because I’ve definitely matured,” Behn asserted.
Raju also questioned Behn on her remarks about despising Nashville.
“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. But I hate it,” Behn said on the “Year old GRITS” podcast.
Raju then asked Behn if she believed her comments were a “mistake.”
“Once again, I was a private citizen. Nashville is my home. Do I roll my eyes at the bachelorette parties and the pedal taverns that are blocking my access to my house? Yeah, every Nashvillian does,” she said. “But this race has always been about something bigger. It’s about families across Middle Tennessee that are getting crushed by rising prices while Washington politicians and billionaires argue about this type of nonsense.”
Behn also labeled Tennessee a “racist state” in a 2019 op-ed for the Tennessean.
“Let me be clear: Tennessee is a racist state. Racism is in the air we breathe, permeating the State Capitol, codified in the legislation being passed at the detriment of women, communities of color, and the working poor,” she wrote. “Our problem with racism in this state is wild and untamed.”
Behn is campaigning to represent Tennessee’s 7th district, which will hold a special election Tuesday in response to Republican Tennessee Rep. Mark Green’s July 4, 2025 resignation.
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