Did She Think She Won? Aftyn Behn Brags That She Lectured GOP Victor Over Obamacare in Concession Call

In politics, there’s an unmistakable rule: winners set the agenda; losers don’t. Yet someone apparently forgot to deliver that memo to Democratic Tennessee state Rep. Aftyn Behn — a lawmaker who has spent years misunderstanding not just political reality, but voters themselves.

Behn, a progressive activist who once backed defunding the police and even supported rioters who burned police stations, has long been out of step with the people she claims to represent. And after losing Tuesday’s special election for Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District, she proved once again just how detached from reality she truly is.

Despite polls showing a tight race, Republican Matt Van Epps ultimately won the seat with a nearly nine-point margin — a solid victory in a year when Democrats hold both the White House and Congress. Few expected Van Epps to replicate President Donald Trump’s massive 2024 performance in the district, but his win exceeded pundit expectations and confirmed where Tennessee voters stand.

Behn, however, ran as the same radical she proudly admitted to being. In her own words, she is “a very radical person,” and her campaign — filled with far-left rhetoric and chaotic past clips — made that painfully clear. Voters weren’t buying it.

Still, Behn managed to treat her defeat like a triumph of moral significance.

“We may not have won tonight, but we changed the story of what’s possible here,” she said during her concession speech in Nashville — a curious framing for someone who lost by nearly double digits.

But what happened next took political delusion to a new level.

Behn revealed that during her concession call with Van Epps, she attempted to lecture the congressman-elect on Obamacare — as though she had earned some leverage over his policy priorities.

“I called the congressman-elect, Matt Van Epps, and I had one question for him,” she said. “What will define what happens next? Do not let the Affordable Care Act subsidies expire. Do not raise health care costs for working families in Tennessee.”

Two things stand out here, beyond the obvious absurdity of the loser dictating terms to the winner.

First, Behn has spent her campaign doubling down on the same failing policies that have driven up health-care costs and fueled government shutdowns. Her demand to keep subsidizing Obamacare — indefinitely and with no reform — isn’t new. It’s the same tired progressive script she’s been reading from for years.

Second, a nine-point loss is not a “moral victory.” It’s not a mandate. It’s not momentum. It’s not a symbolic breakthrough. It is what it is: a decisive rejection.

For comparison, Democrats hailed Jon Ossoff in 2017 for coming far closer in a deep-red district than Behn ever did — and even that was not considered a victory. So what exactly is Behn’s excuse?

Her record speaks for itself: extreme positions, soaring rhetoric with no policy grounding, and a fundamental disconnect from Tennessee families who are tired of higher costs and government expansion. Voters saw through it — and rejected it soundly.

Yet Behn imagines herself in a position to issue orders during a concession call, as if reality bent to her ideological worldview rather than the ballot box.

What version of reality does this woman inhabit?

Tennessee didn’t merely avoid electing a far-left ideologue on Tuesday. America dodged yet another progressive wrecking ball from landing in Congress.