Aftyn Behn
Aftyn Behn (Democratic Party) is a member of the Tennessee House of Representatives, representing District 51. She assumed office on October 4, 2023. Her current term ends on November 3, 2026.
Behn (Democratic Party) is running for re-election to the Tennessee House of Representatives to represent District 51. She declared candidacy for the Democratic primary scheduled on August 6, 2026.[source]
Behn is also running in a special election to the U.S. House to represent Tennessee's 7th Congressional District. She is on the ballot in the special general election on December 2, 2025. She advanced from the special Democratic primary on October 7, 2025.
Behn is also running for election to the U.S. House to represent Tennessee's 7th Congressional District. She declared candidacy for the Democratic primary scheduled on August 6, 2026.[source]
Biography
Aftyn Behn earned a degree from the University of Texas at Austin. Behn's career experience includes working as the campaign director of RuralOrganizing.org.[1]
2025 battleground election
Ballotpedia identified the December 2, 2025, special election as a battleground election. The summary below is from our coverage of this election, found here.
Aftyn Behn (D), Matt Van Epps (R), and four independent candidates are running in the special election for Tennessee's 7th Congressional District on December 2, 2025. The special election will fill the vacancy created when the former incumbent, Rep. Mark Green (R), resigned on July 20, 2025.[2]
The Tennessee Lookout's Sam Stockard wrote, "The special election for Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District seat is shaping up as a classic conservative-liberal battle that pits urban versus rural voters in a heavily red region."[3] According to The Tennessean's Austin Hornbostel and Vivian Jones, "Tennessee’s 7th District has been represented by Republicans since 1983. But new district boundaries drawn by the Republican-controlled state legislature in 2021 moved the district into northern Nashville and added a significant Democrat population. Since redistricting, Republicans have not won more than 60% of the vote."[4]
Behn represents the 51st District in the Tennessee House of Representatives. She was elected in a 2023 special election and re-elected in 2024. Behn earned her bachelor's degree in psychology and her master's degree in social work from the University of Texas at Austin. She worked as a social worker and community organizer.[5]
Behn's campaign website said, "She’s now running for Congress after the so-called 'Big, Beautiful Bill' passed — a giveaway to the wealthy that codified the largest transfer of wealth from working people to the rich in American history."[6] Behn is running on her record as an activist and state representative.[7] In a campaign ad, Behn says, "As a state representative in Tennessee, I fought to eliminate Tennessee's grocery tax. In Congress, I will fight to make sure your rural hospitals and nursing homes stay open, and I will make sure that no one loses their healthcare because they can't afford it."[8]
Van Epps was a Tennessee Army National Guard lieutenant colonel and a special operations helicopter pilot. He served as commissioner of the Tennessee Department of General Services and as deputy chief operating officer in the governor's office.[9] He earned his bachelor's degree in political science and mechanical engineering from West Point and his master's degree in public administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.[10]
Van Epps' campaign website said he would bring "conservative leadership grounded in service, experience, and unwavering commitment to Tennessee values and President Trump's America First agenda."[11] President Donald Trump (R) endorsed Van Epps days before the primary election.[12] Van Epps said, "Together, we will bring down the cost of living, keep our families and communities safe, lower the cost of prescription drugs and healthcare, deport criminal illegals, and get our veterans the care and support they've earned."[13]
Independents Teresa Christie, Bobby Dodge, Robert James Sutherby, and Jonathan Thorp are also running.
Heading into the election, Republicans have a 219-213 majority in the U.S. House with three vacancies. This will be the sixth special congressional election in 2025, after two April elections in Florida's 1st District and 6th District, two September elections in Virginia's 11th District and Arizona's 7th District, and a November election in Texas' 18th District.
Sponsored legislation
The following table lists bills this person sponsored as a legislator, according to BillTrack50 and sorted by action history. Bills are sorted by the date of their last action. The following list may not be comprehensive. To see all bills this legislator sponsored, click on the legislator's name in the title of the table.
Elections
2026
See also: Tennessee House of Representatives elections, 2026
General election
The primary will occur on August 6, 2026. The general election will occur on November 3, 2026. General election candidates will be added here following the primary.
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Tennessee House of Representatives District 51
Incumbent Aftyn Behn is running in the Democratic primary for Tennessee House of Representatives District 51 on August 6, 2026.
Candidate | ||
 | Aftyn Behn | |
| ||||
 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Endorsements
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2025
See also: Tennessee's 7th Congressional District special election, 2025
Tennessee's 7th Congressional District special election, 2025 (October 7 Republican primary)
Tennessee's 7th Congressional District special election, 2025 (October 7 Democratic primary)
General election
Special general election for U.S. House Tennessee District 7
The following candidates are running in the special general election for U.S. House Tennessee District 7 on December 2, 2025.
Candidate | ||
| Aftyn Behn (D) | |
 | Matt Van Epps (R) | |
 | Teresa Christie (Independent) | |
| Bobby Dodge (Independent) | ||
 | Robert James Sutherby (Independent) | |
 | Jonathan Thorp (Independent) | |
| ||||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Steven Hooper (Independent)
- Scerick Richard Longcope (Independent)
- David Richard Holbert (Independent)
- Caleb Stack (Independent)
Democratic primary election
Special Democratic primary for U.S. House Tennessee District 7
Aftyn Behn defeated Darden Copeland, Bo Mitchell, and Vincent Dixie in the special Democratic primary for U.S. House Tennessee District 7 on October 7, 2025.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Aftyn Behn | 27.9 | 8,648 |
 | Darden Copeland | 24.9 | 7,716 | |
 | Bo Mitchell | 24.2 | 7,492 | |
 | Vincent Dixie | 23.1 | 7,146 | |
| Total votes: 31,002 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Joy Davis (D)
Republican primary election
Special Republican primary for U.S. House Tennessee District 7
The following candidates ran in the special Republican primary for U.S. House Tennessee District 7 on October 7, 2025.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Matt Van Epps | 51.6 | 19,001 |
 | Jody Barrett | 25.3 | 9,335 | |
 | Gino Bulso | 10.9 | 4,004 | |
 | Lee Reeves | 5.2 | 1,929 | |
 | Mason Foley | 2.8 | 1,022 | |
 | Stewart Parks | 1.6 | 595 | |
 | Jason Knight | 1.0 | 381 | |
 | Stuart Cooper (Unofficially withdrew) | 0.6 | 239 | |
 | Tres Wittum | 0.4 | 133 | |
 | Joe Leurs | 0.3 | 122 | |
 | Adolph Agbéko Dagan | 0.3 | 93 | |
| Total votes: 36,854 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Robert James Sutherby (R)
- Brandon Ogles (R)
- Eddie Lee Murphy (R)
- John Wilt (R)
- John Wesley Smith IV (R)
- Michael Vogel (R)
- Noah Cline (R)
- Robby Moore (R)
Polls
- See also: Ballotpedia's approach to covering polls
We provide results for polls that are included in polling aggregation from RealClearPolitics, when available. We will regularly check for polling aggregation for this race and add polls here once available. To notify us of polls available for this race, please email us.
Election campaign finance
| Name | Party | Receipts* | Disbursements** | Cash on hand | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aftyn Behn | Democratic Party | $188,159 | $167,991 | $20,168 | As of September 30, 2025 |
| Matt Van Epps | Republican Party | $402,006 | $347,708 | $54,298 | As of September 30, 2025 |
| Teresa Christie | Independent | $0 | $0 | $0 | Data not available*** |
| Bobby Dodge | Independent | $0 | $0 | $0 | Data not available*** |
| Robert James Sutherby | Independent | $0 | $0 | $0 | Data not available*** |
| Jonathan Thorp | Independent | $7,392 | $7,332 | $60 | As of September 30, 2025 |
|
Source: Federal Elections Commission, "Campaign finance data," 2025. This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
* According to the FEC, "Receipts are anything of value (money, goods, services or property) received by a political committee." |
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Satellite spending
- See also: Satellite spending
Satellite spending describes political spending not controlled by candidates or their campaigns; that is, any political expenditures made by groups or individuals that are not directly affiliated with a candidate. This includes spending by political party committees, super PACs, trade associations, and 501(c)(4) nonprofit groups.[14][15][16]
If available, this section includes links to online resources tracking satellite spending in this election. To notify us of a resource to add, email us.
| By candidate | By election |
|---|---|
Endorsements
Behn received the following endorsements. To send us additional endorsements, click here.
2024
See also: Tennessee House of Representatives elections, 2024
General election
General election for Tennessee House of Representatives District 51
Incumbent Aftyn Behn defeated Jeffry Ketelsen in the general election for Tennessee House of Representatives District 51 on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Aftyn Behn (D) | 73.9 | 24,391 |
| Jeffry Ketelsen (Independent) | 26.1 | 8,626 | ||
| Total votes: 33,017 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Tennessee House of Representatives District 51
Incumbent Aftyn Behn advanced from the Democratic primary for Tennessee House of Representatives District 51 on August 1, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Aftyn Behn | 100.0 | 6,145 |
| Total votes: 6,145 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Endorsements
Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Behn in this election.
2023
See also: Tennessee state legislative special elections, 2023
General election
Special general election for Tennessee House of Representatives District 51
Aftyn Behn defeated David Hooven and Annabelle Lee in the special general election for Tennessee House of Representatives District 51 on September 14, 2023.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Aftyn Behn (D) | 75.6 | 10,654 |
 | David Hooven (R) | 21.5 | 3,030 | |
| Annabelle Lee (Independent) | 2.9 | 408 | ||
| Total votes: 14,092 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Democratic primary election
Special Democratic primary for Tennessee House of Representatives District 51
Aftyn Behn defeated incumbent Anthony Davis in the special Democratic primary for Tennessee House of Representatives District 51 on August 3, 2023.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Aftyn Behn | 53.5 | 5,267 |
 | Anthony Davis | 46.5 | 4,582 | |
| Total votes: 9,849 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Republican primary election
Special Republican primary for Tennessee House of Representatives District 51
David Hooven advanced from the special Republican primary for Tennessee House of Representatives District 51 on August 3, 2023.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | David Hooven | 97.9 | 1,515 |
| Other/Write-in votes | 2.1 | 33 | ||
| Total votes: 1,548 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Endorsements
Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Behn in this election.
Campaign themes
2026
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Aftyn Behn has not yet completed Ballotpedia's 2026 Candidate Connection survey. Send a message to Aftyn Behn asking her to fill out the survey. If you are Aftyn Behn, click here to fill out Ballotpedia's 2026 Candidate Connection survey.
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2025
Aftyn Behn has not yet completed Ballotpedia's 2025 Candidate Connection survey. If you are Aftyn Behn, click here to fill out Ballotpedia's 2025 Candidate Connection survey.
Who fills out Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey?
Any candidate running for elected office, at any level, can complete Ballotpedia's Candidate Survey. Completing the survey will update the candidate's Ballotpedia profile, letting voters know who they are and what they stand for. More than 23,000 candidates have taken Ballotpedia's candidate survey since we launched it in 2015. Learn more about the survey here.
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Campaign ads
View more ads here:
2024
Aftyn Behn did not complete Ballotpedia's 2024 Candidate Connection survey.
2023
Aftyn Behn completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2023. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Behn's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
| Collapse all
- Uphold and defend LGBTQIA and reproductive rights, especially as the state criminalizes pregnancy and increases state surveillance of our trans community.
- Stand up to state overreach and introduce tactics I’ve learned from other states to combat the racist, undemocratic state preemption of our cities
- I will push to expand supports for caregivers across the state as they deserve to be respected, protected and paid for the essentialism work they do every day
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
Campaign finance summary
Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.
Scorecards
A scorecard evaluates a legislator’s voting record. Its purpose is to inform voters about the legislator’s political positions. Because scorecards have varying purposes and methodologies, each report should be considered on its own merits. For example, an advocacy group’s scorecard may assess a legislator’s voting record on one issue while a state newspaper’s scorecard may evaluate the voting record in its entirety.
Ballotpedia is in the process of developing an encyclopedic list of published scorecards. Some states have a limited number of available scorecards or scorecards produced only by select groups. It is Ballotpedia’s goal to incorporate all available scorecards regardless of ideology or number.
Click here for an overview of legislative scorecards in all 50 states. To contribute to the list of Virginia scorecards, email suggestions to editor@ballotpedia.org.
2024
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2024, click [show]. |
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In 2024, the Virginia State Legislature was in session from January 10 to March 9. Special sessions occurred May 13, 2024; June 18 to July 1; and July 18, 2024.
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2023
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2023, click [show]. |
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In 2023, the Virginia State Legislature was in session from January 11 to February 25.
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See also
2025 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Aftyn Behn, "About Aftyn," accessed October 4, 2023
- ↑ The Tennessean, "US Rep. Mark Green will step down July 20. Who could replace him?" July 8, 2025
- ↑ Tennessee Lookout, "Behn works to counter Trump endorsement of Van Epps in Tennessee’s Congressional District 7," October 22, 2025
- ↑ [ https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/politics/elections/2025/10/08/tennessee-7th-congressional-district-aftyn-behn-matt-van-epps/86586838007/ The Tennessean, "Behn, Van Epps to face off in special election for Tennessee's 7th Congressional District," October 8, 2025]
- ↑ Tennessee General Assembly, "Representative Aftyn Behn," accessed October 29, 2025
- ↑ Aftyn Behn 2025 campaign website, "Home," accessed October 29, 2025
- ↑ The Behn Factor, "Why We Need to Send an Organizer to Congress," August 7, 2025
- ↑ [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QS6WGAVw43s YouTube, " I'm Aftyn Behn and I'm running for Congress." July 9, 2025]
- ↑ Matt Van Epps 2025 campaign website, "Meet Matt," accessed October 29, 2025
- ↑ Linkedin, "Matt Van Epps, MPA," accessed October 29, 2025
- ↑ Matt Van Epps 2025 campaign website, "Issues," accessed October 29, 2025
- ↑ Clarksville Now, "UPDATE: Congress candidate Matt Van Epps endorsed by Trump: ‘HE WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN!’," October 3, 2025
- ↑ WZTV Nashville, "Democratic candidate Aftyn Behn and GOP candidate Matt Van Epps lay out visions for Tenn.," October 8, 2025
- ↑ OpenSecrets.org, "Outside Spending," accessed December 12, 2021
- ↑ OpenSecrets.org, "Total Outside Spending by Election Cycle, All Groups," accessed December 12, 2021
- ↑ National Review.com, "Why the Media Hate Super PACs," December 12, 2021
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Bill Beck (D) |
Tennessee House of Representatives District 51 2023-Present |
Succeeded by - |
