In October 2023, the online publication Tennbeat published an interview with newly elected Tennessee state representative Aftyn Behn.
The piece, which calls the leftist lawmaker “the AOC of Tennessee,” charts Behn’s rise from University of Texas psychology student to “progressive community organizer.” Behn told Tennbeat that “during her senior year at the University of Texas, she interned at the Arc of Texas, a nonprofit dedicated to improving the lives of persons with disabilities.”
The piece notes that Behn “developed talking points on disability policies for the state legislature” during that internship, giving her an early taste of political life that led her to spend the summer after graduation canvassing for Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX).
But Arc of Texas has no record of Behn’s employment, as an intern or otherwise. “We have no record of an intern with the name Aftyn Behn,” a spokesperson for the Arc of Texas told The Daily Wire.
The Daily Wire reached out to Tennbeat founder Kathryn Rickmeyer, who authored the piece. She claimed that Behn told her about the internship herself. Behn did not respond to a request for comment.
Since launching her campaign to replace retired congressman Mark Green, Behn has been engaged in a different kind of resume revisionism. The lawmaker, who faces Republican Matt Van Epps on Tuesday, has sought to position herself as an average Nashville girl. Her record suggests otherwise.
Let’s start with Nashville, the majority of which lies in the district Behn would represent if she wins.
“I hate the city,” the self-described “pissed off social worker” said on a 2020 podcast appearance. “I hate the bachelorette, 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 attempted to walk her comments back after the video resurfaced earlier this month, posting a video titled “BREAKING: I DO NOT HATE NASHVILLE LOL.” It’s unclear whether Behn’s attempt to laugh the whole thing off was effective, however, because she was quickly hit with a succession of new scandals.
Behn deleted a social media post calling on all white people to get behind abolishing prisons, The Daily Wire reported this week.
“On this Juneteenth, we need less white folks posting Canva graphics and more adopting prison abolition as a political foundation,” Behn wrote just over a year ago, which is now archived on the Wayback Machine. Behn also advocated prison abolition in an August 2024 article in The Tennessean, telling the publication, “As a legislator who believes in prison abolition, I am committed to addressing the root causes of crime rather than implementing punitive measures that often perpetuate a cycle of harm.”
Behn has also faced scrutiny over a 2020 post in which she praised people who support burning down police stations. “Good morning, especially to the 54% of Americans that believe burning down a police station is justified,” Behn posted.
Behn declined to address those comments in a recent interview, saying, “I’m not gonna engage in cable news talking points.”
Crime and policing are not the only areas where Behn has advocated radical views in the past. She claims that men can give birth and said that the murder of six children by a transgender-identifying gunman at the Covenant School in Tennessee made her more sympathetic to “trans communities” and inspired her to “fight the far-right narrative that is being emanated by Matt Walsh and The Daily Wire.”
Those political positions may put Behn out of step with the state she’s running to represent. But they’re not shocking coming from a woman who says she got into politics after “immers[ing] herself in Austin’s Black Lives Matter movement” and who once consulted with the United Nations on a portfolio that included LGBT refugees.
With less than a week left before the special election, Behn may wish her radical past would stay in the past. But the revelations keep coming, often accompanied by video. One clip that resurfaced this week showed Behn crying after being forcibly removed from Tennessee Governor Bill Lee’s office during a 2019 protest. And in another clip making the rounds this week, Behn reveals what she dreams about: power.
“My therapist always asks me to transcribe my dreams when they happen,” Behn says in the clip. “And the recurring dream I’ve had is standing up in a cafeteria full of women — I don’t know why I was there or whatever — and saying, ‘I don’t want children. I want power!’ And just screaming it at the top of my lungs.”
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