It’s Tuesday, which means Election Day in Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District. It also means that Democratic candidate Aftyn Behn still won’t really back off her calls to defund the police — and CNN host Kasie Hunt, certainly no shill for the Republicans on a network that effectively wants Behn to win, basically gave up on trying to lead her into an intelligent backtrack.
Behn is, from all appearances, within striking distance of the Republican nominee, Matt Van Epps. They’re running to replace former Rep. Mark Green, a Republican who stepped down after the vote on the “Big Beautiful Bill” in the summer to enter the private sector.
Trump won the district by well over 20 points, but this being a special election on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving at the tail end of an off-year, Democrats are hopeful and have poured millions of dollars into the race. Behn is, by all accounts, within striking distance of Van Epps, which is all the more worrying because she’s comically inept. She’s been called “Tennessee’s AOC,” but to be frank, that’s an insult to AOC, who’s not quite as loopy.
Here she is, for instance, hating on Nashville, the heart of her district, and then insisting she’d done no such thing:
Democrat congressional candidate Aftyn Behn lies and says she doesn’t hate Nashville.
She’s doing damage control after audio came out of her saying, “I hate all of the things that make Nashville.”
Democrats want you to not believe your ears.
This is the state of the Democrat… pic.twitter.com/ccBSeTxVjQ
— Paul A. Szypula 🇺🇸 (@Bubblebathgirl) November 21, 2025
Here she is screaming like an 11-year-old who needs to be medicated after police dared to arrest her for bum-rushing the governor’s office and trespassing:
🚨MORE INSANTIY🚨 Resurfaced video from 2019 shows Democrat Tennessee candidate Aftyn Behn SCREAMING and SOBBING as officers had to forcibly drag her out of Gov. Lee’s office. @DailyCaller pic.twitter.com/rcUnwQeXlN
— Nicole Silverio (@NicoleMSilverio) November 24, 2025
Here she is saying how she realized having kids was part of “deeply patriarchal structures” after she transcribed her dreams with her therapist, or something — which, in my humble opinion, is very the most underrated clip in the unhinged Behn oeuvre:
🚨 Democrat nominee for the upcoming TN07 special election Aftyn Behn condemns women who get married and start families– saying it’s the product of “deeply patriarchal structures”:
“My therapist always asks me to transcribe my dreams and the recurring dream I’ve had is standing… pic.twitter.com/LTsYj0im7Q
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) November 24, 2025
And then, on a more serious note, there’s her past calls to defund the police. She’s been given ample opportunity to walk these calls back:
Aftyn Behn continues her train wreck of a campaign to be a representative from Tennessee.
Here she’s asked about her past calls to defund the police. She refuses to talk about them.
Behn won’t even say if she supports defunding the police now.
Pathetic.pic.twitter.com/bGrC7MQWrd https://t.co/wu0LJzXyZN
— Paul A. Szypula 🇺🇸 (@Bubblebathgirl) November 24, 2025
Okay, but that’s when the race wasn’t perceived as being so close. Surely, having looked at the polls and probably having watched Robert Redford’s character arc in “The Candidate,” now would be the time to basically sacrifice any aversion to political expediency and give the right-sounding (if not accurate) answer. Or, on the other hand, go all in and party like it’s 2020, minus the mask.
Appearing Monday on CNN, Behn insisted that “I’m a progressive” but refused to answer a softball question about her defund the police position. Host Kasie Hunt made it easy for her, saying that “there are some old posts you’ve been asked about… a number of times,” which she wasn’t going to mention.
“My question for you today is whether more money for cops on the streets in the district you hope to represent would help fight crime. Would you like more money for more cops on the streets in your district?”
Easy question. Too easy. Which she proceeded not to even attempt to answer.
“So those past comments were at a time when I was a private citizen,” Behn said. “As an activist and organizer, and now as a Tennessee lawmaker, I represent 40,000 individual opinions and political –“
“And so what do you think now? Would more money for cops be good or bad?” Hunt asked.
“I think it depends on what the community wants,” she said. “And so there — I’ve worked with communities, at least my constituents, want to ensure that there is investment in their community for community safety, community protection, mental health services and, that’s what I’m hearing from at least my constituents.”
“All right,” Hunt said. “Fair enough.”
That’s basically akin to her saying: Don’t blame me, Ken Martin. I tried. She’s the DNC’s problem now. I’m surprised she didn’t give her one more try and asked if she wanted to use a lifeline — “Would you like to phone a friend? I mean, a friend who isn’t your therapist?” — but I guess she realizes a lost cause when she sees one:
NEW: CNN’s Kasie Hunt gives up and moves on after far-left congressional candidate Aftyn Behn of Tennessee refused to admit that funding the police is a good thing.
Hunt: Would you like more money for more cops on the streets in your district?
Behn: So those um, past comments… pic.twitter.com/DScvVKZQYt
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) December 2, 2025
This is missing an empty-net goal, effectively. With one day to go, all you have to say is, “Sure, I want more money for police.” You can add that you want more money for social workers and other mental health first responders. That sounds batty and stupid and won’t be done, but that’s how you effectively disguise defunding the police. (Looking at you, Zohran.)
This loopy flibbertigibbet can’t even lie well. If she wins, won’t the last sane person in Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District please turn out the lights before they leave?
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