Tennessee has officially found its own mini-AOC, and her name is Aftyn Behn. And let me tell you, the “AOC of Tennessee” is doing everything in her power to make sure voters know exactly who she is—someone who openly hates the city she wants to represent, is uncomfortable with prayer, dreams about choosing power over children, and believes grocery stores are secretly running some grand profit-gouging conspiracy even though they operate on margins smaller than a Nashville honky-tonk tip jar. It’s political theater meets self-own, wrapped in a progressive activist résumé and sprinkled with a remarkable lack of self-awareness. And somehow, we’re told this is a two-point race. Bless their hearts.
Let’s start where the internet started: the resurfaced audio where the AOC of Tennessee declares, without hesitation, “I hate the city. I hate the bachelorettes. I hate country music. I hate all the things that make Nashville…” That last line says it all. Imagine running for Congress in Tennessee while announcing you hate the very culture that defines Tennessee. That’s like running for Congress in Wisconsin and shouting, “I hate cheese, snow, and Packers fans.” It’s a political strategy so baffling that even Democrats in California would raise their eyebrows.
When she tried to walk it back, it didn’t go any better. Her explanation boiled down to, “I wasn’t saying I hate Nashville, I was just annoyed with tourists.” A bold attempt, but the audio didn’t say “I hate tourists.” It said, very clearly, “I hate Nashville.” And unlike the national Democrats, who get creative with definitions (“recession,” “border secure,” “Biden is sharp”), words actually mean things here in the South.
But don’t worry, her résumé gets better. Because before this congressional sprint, the AOC of Tennessee wrote a 2019 op-ed declaring the very legislature she works for is racist. That’s right — she wants a seat at the table… that she insists is run by racists… but also claims she’s the right person to work with those racists… to bring them change. A unifying message for the ages. Dr. Phil would like a word.
And if openly insulting the voters wasn’t enough, she also has an issue with prayer. But not prayer during school hours, or prayer being mandated, or even government-sponsored prayer. No — she is deeply uncomfortable with people voluntarily praying in the legislature. She complained that Christian pastors have “proximity to power” and that prayer groups meet “routinely.” Well, yes. This is Tennessee. Church is not a niche lifestyle brand here; it’s part of the cultural DNA. If the AOC of Tennessee finds prayer circles terrifying, wait until she discovers potlucks.
Her greatest moment, however—the one Democrats would usually hide in an encrypted folder labeled “Do Not Open”—is her recurring dream in which she stands in front of a room full of women and declares, “I don’t want children, I want power.” Nothing says “relatable candidate” quite like admitting you have dreams about announcing your thirst for power to a cafeteria audience. And not metaphorical power. Not “power to make change.” Just straight-up POWER. At least she’s honest. When someone dreams of power, you don’t give them a congressional seat — you take away their stapler.
Then we get to the economics portion of her platform, which is basically a Bernie Sanders speech translated through ChatGPT. She promises to lower grocery prices by cracking down on “corporate price gouging”—because apparently she thinks Kroger is swimming in cash like Scrooge McDuck. Kayleigh McEnany pointed out that grocery stores made a profit margin of 1.7%. For every $100 of groceries, they make $1.70. If that’s gouging, then my local lemonade stand is a Fortune 500 company.
She then claims inflation is the Republicans’ fault… after supporting Joe Biden, the man who caused grocery prices to skyrocket like a SpaceX launch, except without the technological brilliance or upward trajectory. Trump kept inflation low; Biden lit it on fire. That’s not partisan spin; that’s the price tag on every item in the freezer aisle.
This is where Matt Van Epps comes in—her Republican opponent, endorsed by Donald Trump and the polar opposite of the activist class running the Democratic Party. He’s a Christian, a father, a combat veteran, a Tennessean who actually likes Tennessee, and someone who doesn’t need to apologize for the culture he lives in. He talks about reducing the cost of living through energy dominance, cutting red tape, standing with small businesses, securing the border, defending law enforcement, and respecting the military. You know… normal things voters actually care about.
Meanwhile, the AOC of Tennessee wants to defund police, abolish prisons, bully ICE officers, and treat law enforcement like villains in a Marvel movie she never watched. If she had her way, criminals would be skipping down Broadway like it’s a parade route while police officers sit in a corner thinking about what they’ve done. This is not a platform — it’s a script rejected by Netflix as “too unrealistic.”
And perhaps the most telling moment of all: after the Covenant School shooting, where a little girl lost her life, she responded not by asking how to protect kids but by joining activist chats about threats to trans events. One month after a child is murdered, she’s on camera describing how she and her activist friends were worried about right-wing groups disrupting a rally. The priorities are upside-down, inside-out, and backward.
This is what happens when activism is the identity, not a hobby. Every event is filtered through the same lens: who can we blame, how can we spin it, and what narrative advances the cause? With the AOC of Tennessee, the cause always comes before the people.
Matt Van Epps put it plainly: her policies are radical, expensive, and dangerous. She wants higher taxes, socialist economics, weak borders, weak policing, and a society where activists — not citizens — define what freedom means. He wants the opposite. Tennessee wants the opposite. America wants the opposite. Even Nashville tourists she hates so much want the opposite.
So yes, this race matters — not because she’s a rising Democratic star, but because she’s a warning. The AOC of Tennessee is what happens when far-left ideology tries to cosplay as mainstream Southern politics. And like all cosplay, it looks ridiculous the moment you shine a real light on it.
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JIMMY
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