The Democrat has a real shot at winning a deep-red congressional seat. In an exclusive interview, she explains why her proposal will shake up politics in 2025 (and maybe 2026).
In suburban and rural counties around Nashville, Tennessee, drivers driving under bridges over local highways are witnessing a new phenomenon: “bridge crews” holding American flags high, cheering and pointing to brightly lit “Vote Aftyn” signs.
It’s amazing that “Aftyn” is a democrat…State Representative Aftin Ben— who is in what appears to be a competitive race for an open congressional seat in a historically Republican and, more recently, pro-Trump district.
Republicans have suffered recent defeats, driven by the complete abandonment of Republican candidates in the Nov. 4 off-year gubernatorial elections in New Jersey and Virginia, as well as Democratic victories in three Pennsylvania Supreme Court seats, state and local offices in Georgia, legislative seats in Mississippi and many other contests across the country. But if Ben, a 36-year-old former community activist, can win the special election for Tennessee's Seventh Congressional District on Dec. 2, she could pull off her biggest upset of the year. That's because, unlike Democrats in some other important 2025 contests, she is vying for a seat where the party has long been uncompetitive.
And the latest data shows that she is close to victory. Emerson College Polling, one of the most respected research groups in the country, published the poll on Wednesday morning Ben has 46 percent compared to 48 percent for corporate Republican Matt Van Epps.
With at least 5 percent of voters in the Tennessee district still undecided, it is now a race “within the margin of error” that Behn said she could win. “I woke up with the energy of a thousand Dolly Partons,” she said while campaigning Wednesday morning. To the voters, especially the young people her campaign has energized, Behn declared, “You have a unique opportunity to change the congressional district.”
In a district that has been red Republican for so long, the race remains tight. But national Democrats, activist groups like the Progressive Democrats of America (PDA), and a growing number of experts share Ben's view that something big is happening in Tennessee this fall. In addition to encouraging poll results, her campaign notes that Cook's Political Report has shifted the race from “Solid Republican” to “Lean Republican” and that early voting patterns suggest Democratic enthusiasm is growing.
Current number
This scared the Republicans. On Tuesday, President Trump took to social media:use urgent messages in CAPITAL letters— to try to ignite enthusiasm among Republicans in the district. And as the Republican National Committees and their conservative allies mount a last-minute advertising campaign on Nashville television, New York Times reports: “Republicans have grown nervous about special House elections that could reveal whether the political climate continues to shift left.”
But even as the president and special interests on the right try to stop her, Ben says frustration with Trump's economic policies and erratic approach to governing have opened a rare path for her candidacy.
“Despite all the chaos in Washington, I think many voters share the same sentiments. [asking]: Why would we send another Republican into government, into a system that they broke?” Ben explains in an interview Nation.
“I think a lot of people gave Trump a chance,” Ben says of the 2024 election that brought the Republican back to power thanks to a GOP-led Congress. But “after nine months of absolute chaos, people's bank accounts have not increased, the cost of food has not decreased, and people are still struggling.”
As economic disillusionment mounted, Ben says, “we created a coalition of the disillusioned, a coalition of the angry. On the campaign trail, I always said, 'If you're upset about the cost of living and the chaos in Washington, then I'm your candidate.'
The question, of course, is whether this coalition will be able to move the situation forward enough to give the Democrats victory in the elections. district where they failed to get even 40 percent of the vote in recent election cycles and where—before Tennessee's congressional lines were redrafted after the 2020 census—their candidates often struggled to reach 25 percent of the vote. Trump won the district by 17 points in 2016, by 15 points in 2020, and by a stunning 22 points in 2024.
So what's happening now? Behn argues that something of a “perfect storm” has unfolded in her race against Van Epps, a Republican insider who spent much of his campaign appearing on Fox News. While Republicans are dejected and, in at least some cases, abandoning their party, Democrats are enthusiastic. That's especially true in Nashville's multiracial 7th District, much of which Ben, one of the most progressive members of the Tennessee House of Representatives, represents in the state Legislature.
“I have a very progressive and involved district, and I had the highest overall voter turnout of any Democratic state representative in the 2024 cycle,” notes Ben, who has invested energy in organizing voters in her legislative district, as well as in other parts of Nashville and Davidson County. “I know how to mobilize Democrats,” she says, “and if I can mobilize the rest of Davidson County, we can win.”
But Ben's strategy doesn't stop at the county line. In more Republican rural areas outside of Davidson County, she is trying to reach voters who may not have voted Democratic in years. As someone who began her career as a community organizer in rural areas of the state, Ben has found allies among Tennesseans who are concerned that Medicaid cuts will lead to hospital closures and downsizing in small towns. She also found that her progressive positions, including calls for taxing billionaires, fighting corporate wrongdoing, supporting workers and ending attacks on Gaza, resonated with voters hungry for moral courage. And for a voice in Washington.
“I received an email from a lifelong Republican who lives in Clarksville. [a city in Montgomery County, a former Democratic stronghold that backed Trump in 2024] which said, “I am a lifelong Republican, I have never voted for a Democrat in my life.” But my family receives subsidies under the Affordable Care Act, and without them we would not be able to afford health insurance… I will vote for you if you commit to providing these subsidies. [continue]”,” Ben recalls. “I said, 'Yes, of course. Of course…I have experience fighting for the solvency of the ACA.”
Ben has made her advocacy for health care access, courage in addressing affordability issues and criticism of the Republican-backed “Big Ugly Bill” a centerpiece of her message as the special election approaches. With the support of trade unions and progressive groups such as the PDA, it aired television advertisements in which announce“I'm Aftin Ben. We all know the system in Washington is rigged. Here's how it works: Politicians make it easy for their wealthy donors – cutting taxes for billionaires and burying Epstein's files. While hardworking Tennesseans fail by cutting health care for Tennessean families, doubling insurance premiums and rates that cripple our economy.”
Popular
“swipe left below to view more authors”Swipe →
Ben's call has caught the attention of national Democrats, who know a victory in Tennessee would be a huge breakthrough for them. It also spooked Republicans and their special interest allies, who launched a costly campaign of attacks against Ben in hopes of preventing the December 2 riots. As Election Day approaches, the attacks are becoming more personal and intense.
But Ben says: “This race can be won – not someday, not theoretically, but right now.” Citing early voting patterns, she argues, “Voters are showing up because they are hungry for leadership that will fight for affordable health care and hold corporate power accountable.”
More from Nation
The rise, fall and rise again of the journalist looks like a performance in a tabloid drama. But in reality these are reports of ring road access taken to their natural limits.
“Operation Charlotte's Web has the potential to mobilize working-class Latinos in North Carolina and their allies to change the political balance of power at the local, state and national levels…
Zoran Mamdani needs a civic program to complement his accessibility program
The new mayor has charmed Donald Trump incredibly and given himself some political respite. But no one should get too comfortable.
