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Democratic congressional hopeful Aftyn Behn did not hold back when describing how she really feels about Nashville — the city she’s now running to represent — in a 2020 podcast that’s resurfaced just days before the Dec. 2 special election.
“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,” she said in the podcast.
Behn, a Democratic state representative and former healthcare community organizer, is running against Republican nominee Matt Van Epps to represent Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District. The winner will succeed former GOP Rep. Mark Green, who resigned from office in June to take a private sector job.
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Democratic congressional nominee Aftyn Behn, a Tennessee state representative, is running in a Dec. 2 special election for a vacant U.S. House seat. (Aftyn For Congress)
The district, which is located in central and western Tennessee and stretches from Kentucky to Alabama, is solidly red. President Donald Trump carried the district by 22 points in his 2024 White House victory.
But the district includes parts of the Democratic stronghold of Nashville, Tennessee’s capital and its most populous city, and a major national center for the country music industry. The district encompasses parts of north and west Nashville, including the downtown area which has long been a very popular tourist destination.
“The Democrat running in a special election for Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District, Aftyn Behn, is running on the message: “I hate this place, elect me!” Tennessee deserves better,” the Republican National Committee (RNC) argued in a social media post on Thursday.
Republican groups are pouring plenty of resources into the special election to avoid the possibility of a major upset and protect the GOP’s current razor-thin 219-214 majority in the House.
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Democrats, energized after their sweeping victories earlier this month in the 2025 elections, are optimistic about their chances in the special election. Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chair Ken Martin, who campaigned with Behn recently, argued that she has “an excellent shot to win.”
Republican candidate for Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District Matt Van Epps talks with attendees before a debate with other candidates, in Nashville, Tenn., on Friday, Sept. 5, 2025. (Nicole Hester / The Tennessean / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)
Behn is considered by many Democrats as a rising progressive star who some have dubbed the “AOC of Tennessee.”
Republicans are also taking aim at Behn over an op-ed titled “Tennessee is a racist state, and so is its legislature,” that appeared in a 2019 edition of The Tennessean newspaper.
The RNC, pointing in a social media post Wednesday to the 6-year-old opinion piece, asked “If Behn hates Tennessee so much, why is she trying to represent it?”
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Kate Briefs, campaign manager for Aftyn Behn for Congress, told Digital in a statement, “Republicans are panicking and in a last ditched attempt, they are distracting from the fact that Washington Republicans and Matt Van Epps are raising costs on Tennessee families and ripping away their health care while Aftyn Behn will lower Tennessee families’ costs and make groceries more affordable by eliminating the state’s grocery tax.”
Van Epps, the former commissioner of the Tennessee Department of General Services, was endorsed by Trump, which boosted him to primary victory last month in an 11-candidate race for the Republican congressional nomination.
Last week, Trump hosted a tele-rally for Van Epps in which he claimed Behn was a “Marxist” and linked her to Zohran Mamdani, the socialist mayor-elect of New York City, whom Republicans are aiming to make the new face of the Democratic Party.
The Van Epps campaign is asking the president to campaign in person in the district ahead of the special election.
A special election is being held in Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District to fill the seat left vacant when Republican Rep. Mark Green resigned from the U.S. House in June to take a job in the private sector. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo)
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Meanwhile, Republican-aligned outside groups are spending big bucks to run ads targeting Behn. As Digital first reported this week, the Trump-aligned super PAC MAGA Inc. launched spots backed by a seven-figure buy.
A Democratic strategist familiar with the race touted that “this is already a win. The fact that Republicans have spent over $2 million trying to hold a seat that Trump won by 22 points. Whether or not Aftyn Behn wins, overperforms, or loses, this is a win for us because Republicans know just how in trouble they are when they have to fight tooth and nail for a seat like this.”
