Aftyn Behn, a Tennessee Democrat running for a U.S. House seat in a special election on Tuesday night, avoided questions about whether she thought giving more money to the police would be good or bad.
CNN host Kasie Hunt asked Behn about posts she made on social media in 2020, saying she wanted to get rid of Nashville’s police service. She also asked her if she would want more money for the police in her district now.
“So those past comments were at a time when I was a private citizen. As an activist and organizer, and now as a Tennessee lawmaker, I represent 40,000 individual opinions and political thought,” she said.
Hunt asked Behn again, “And so what do you think now? Would more money for cops be good or bad?”
Behn dodged the question and said it depends on what the community wants.
“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,” she said.
Behn, a Democrat running for state representative and former healthcare community leader, is up against Matt Van Epps, a Republican, in Tuesday’s special election for Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District.
The winner will take over for Mark Green, who quit as a GOP representative in June to take a job in the private sector.
Behn also avoided being asked if she didn’t agree with any of Kamala Harris’ ideas as the Democratic nominee for 2024.
“Honestly, haven‘t thought about it. I‘ve got 24 hours to — I don‘t mean to be flippant, but I have 24 hours to win this race. And, all I‘ve been thinking about is talking to every last voter possible, at the doors and trying to make my case as to why I am the best candidate,” Behn said.
“But there’s no policy that you would identify that again, the party’s presidential nominee held, that you do not agree with?” Hunt asked Behn again.
Behn said that her main goal was to lower prices for Tennessee residents.
After the interview, Hunt told her CNN panel that she was “surprised” Behn couldn’t name a point of disagreement with Harris, who lost Tennessee to President Donald Trump by nearly 30 points.
Behn made news for criticizing Nashville, which is part of the district she hopes to represent, in a 2020 podcast that resurfaced 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.
Trump-backed Republican Matt Van Epps, who is running against Aftyn Behn, warned about her “socialist agenda” on Tuesday morning.
“We have the right solutions. My opponent wants new and higher taxes to fund her socialist agenda. She has been endorsed by the democratic socialists of America supported Mamdani in New York City, and these are policies that will skyrocket our cost of living and will not be good for Tennessee,” Epps said.
“President Trump carried this district by 22 points last year. Democrats are hoping to flip it and narrow the very slim Republican majority in Congress,” Epps argued to close out his interview on Fox News with host Dana Perino.
House Speaker Mike Johnson visited Tennessee to campaign with him.
“The problem is, when you have a deep-red district, a lot of the people take for granted that the Republican or the conservative is going to win,” Johnson said in a joint interview with Epps.
