Aftyn Behn officially announced her campaign for Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District, which will be determined in the coming months by a special election following the surprise retirement of incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. Mark Green.
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The district includes a large slice of Davidson County as well as rural areas west of Nashville, stretching all the way from Clarksville to the Tennessee-Alabama border. It was one of three congressional seats drawn when the state's Republican supermajority “cracked” Nashville into three districts following the 2020 Census. Behn is the second elected Democrat to announce a run for the seat, following fellow Nashville Rep. Bo Mitchell's announcement earlier in the week. Both Behn and Mitchell filed candidacy paperwork on Monday. Democratic Nashville Rep. Vincent Dixie previously told the Scene he was heavily considering entering the primary. Former Nashville Mayor Megan Barry — who ran against Green last year — has said that she will not enter the race.
Behn just wrapped her second legislative session as a state lawmaker representing House District 51, which includes parts of downtown, East Nashville and suburban neighborhoods along the Cumberland River. She quickly earned a reputation as an outspoken progressive sharply critical of the Trump administration and the GOP’s firm grip on Tennessee politics. Before entering electoral politics, Behn worked as an organizer for the Tennessee Justice Center and Indivisible, particularly focused on rural hospital closures and access to health care.
“I did not expect to be running for office three years in a row, but am a national expert at engaging rural voters and a daughter of the national progressive apparatus birthed into existence during the Trump era,” Behn tells the Scene on the morning of her campaign announcement. “Everyone will be watching this race. The goal is to nationalize it, raise a ton of money and bring that money into the district.”
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Behn lives “within walking distance” of Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District and would be required to move within its borders if she wins the seat. Her filing paperwork lists the in-district address of friend and campaign staffer Katherine Briefs. If elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, Behn would have to give up the state House seat she first won in a 2023 special election and defended in the 2024 general election.
On a briefing call with constituents Tuesday evening about the effects of Trump’s recently passed “Big Beautiful Bill,” Behn offered a preview of the campaign issues she may employ to make up the district’s nearly 70,000-vote gap between Republicans and Democrats.
“ We're gonna have to really be on the front lines of shifting the narrative when it comes to this bill," she said Tuesday. "The impacts are going to be awful — nine rural hospitals are at risk of closing in Tennessee. We’re expecting one in four nursing homes to close. There will be cuts to [the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program], and we've already seen the rollback of summer meals. This is going to be really devastating.”
On the Republican side of the ticket, state Rep. Lee Reeves, state Rep. Jody Barrett, former state Commissioner Matt Van Epps, Montgomery County Commissioner Jason Knight and veteran Jon Thorp have all entered the race.
Green, a retired U.S. Army surgeon who won significant favor with President Donald Trump during his five years in Congress, defeated Barry by 21 percentage points in November to retain his seat. Green announced his retirement from Congress once before, in February 2024, only to be talked into running again by colleagues and Trump himself.
