Democratic Tennessee congressional candidate Aftyn Behn was dragged out of the office of Republican Gov. Bill Lee as she screamed and sobbed during a 2019 protest, according to resurfaced footage.
Behn and other women with the activist group Enough Is Enough Tennessee staged a sit-in inside the state capitol and demanded to speak with Lee about calling for the resignation of then-Republican state Rep. David Byrd, who faced allegations of sexual misconduct, The Daily Caller reported.
The incident occurred on April 17, 2019, when the doors to Lee’s office briefly opened, and the women attempted to rush inside. Security officers blocked the group and removed Behn from the office.
NewsChannel 5 Nashville posted footage of Behn screaming loudly as security dragged her away.
She then fell to her knees and sobbed on the floor as officers continued clearing the hallway. State troopers threatened to arrest the group if they refused to leave the building.
Several of the women complied with the order, but Behn and a few others refused and were arrested shortly after.
One month later, additional footage from the 111th General Assembly Meeting showed Behn shouting from the wing of the state House chambers and demanding Byrd’s resignation.
Security escorted her from the chamber, issued her a citation and released her that evening.
Behn is now running against Republican candidate Matt Van Epps, a former commissioner in the Lee administration, in the special election for Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District.
The special election will be held on Dec. 2 following the resignation of former Republican Rep. Mark Green.
It gets worse for Behn.
Behn was confronted on MS NOW about a series of now-deleted tweets in which she appeared to advocate dissolving the police department during the summer of 2020 at the height of the George Floyd riots, The Blaze reported.
One of the tweets read, “Good morning, especially to the 54% of Americans that believe burning down a police station is justified.”
“Yeah, I’m not going to engage in cable news talking points,” Behn said when questioned about her comments.
“But what I will say is that, you know, our communities need solutions. We need local people deciding … solving local problems with local solutions … and that’s not the overreach of a federal government or a state government of which we are dealing with in Nashville and our cities across the state.”
The MS NOW anchor pressed Behn multiple times to clarify whether she supported the sentiment expressed in the tweet.
She declined to give a direct answer.
“Once again, I don’t remember these tweets,” Behn said.
This is not the first time Behn’s past remarks have drawn scrutiny.
She previously expressed frustration and disdain for Nashville, the city she is now running to represent in Congress.
“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,” Behn said during a 2020 appearance on the “Year Old GRITS” podcast.
“I hate it.”
In a video posted to X on Thursday, Behn appeared to back away from those comments, saying she takes issue with “the bachelorettes” and “pedal taverns” but ultimately blamed Republicans for the controversy surrounding her remarks.
