Aftyn Behn Declines to Clarify Past 'Defund the Police' Posts in Heated Interview Ahead of Special Election

Aftyn Behn, a Tennessee state representative and Democratic congressional candidate, was pressed on MS NOW about deleted 2020 posts that appeared to support defunding police. Behn declined to directly confirm or retract the posts, instead focusing on local solutions and affordability as key campaign issues. A resurfaced 2020 podcast clip criticizing Nashville also renewed scrutiny, which Behn says was taken out of context. The controversy surfaced days before the special election for the 7th District seat.

11:26 PM, 11/24/2025Politics

Aftyn Behn Declines to Clarify Past 'Defund the Police' Posts in Heated Interview Ahead of Special Election

Democratic state representative and congressional candidate Aftyn Behn faced repeated questioning on MS NOW about deleted 2020 social-media posts that appeared to support defunding police departments. The host, Catherine Rampell, cited several tweets reportedly calling for the dissolution of the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department, praising a teachers union that demanded “defund the police” conditions for school reopenings, and a message referencing a poll that said a majority of Americans found burning down a police station justified.

Rampell asked whether Behn still stood by those posts and whether she wanted to clarify her position. Behn declined to answer directly, instead emphasizing local problem‑solving and her campaign priorities:

“I’m not going to engage in cable news talking points, but what I will say is that, you know, our communities need solutions. We need local people deciding, solving local problems with local solutions.”

When pressed for a clear statement about her current position on police funding, Behn said she did not remember the tweets. Rampell followed up: “I’m not asking you if you remember. What is your position today? How’s that? On this issue?” Rather than address the substance, Behn redirected the conversation to economic issues she says are top of voters’ minds.

“I mean, once again, I’m here to talk about my race, which is in literally nine days, and talking about affordability, which seems to be the number one issue across the district,” Behn said, naming grocery costs and the potential loss of marketplace healthcare subsidies as focal points for her campaign.

Behn is the Democratic nominee for Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District, running against Republican Matt Van Epps for the seat vacated by Mark Green. The district, spanning central and western Tennessee, is broadly Republican-leaning; President Donald Trump carried much of the area by a wide margin in the 2024 election, though the district includes parts of Democratic-leaning Nashville.

Scrutiny of Behn’s past comments intensified after a resurfaced 2020 podcast clip in which she criticized aspects of Nashville culture, saying she “hate[s] the city” and listing tourists and popular attractions as annoyances. In a separate interview on MS NOW with host Al Sharpton, Behn said locals sometimes get irritated with tourists but insisted those remarks were taken out of context and did not reflect a lack of affection for the city.

The renewed attention to Behn’s past statements emerged in the closing days of a tightly watched special election calendar. Paul Steinhauser contributed reporting to the coverage.