Aftyn Behn’s rise challenges Tennessee’s GOP establishment

Aftyn Behn a Tennessee state representative is bucking conventional wisdom by closing the distance between herself and her Republican opponent in a deep-red district as a strident progressive In Rep Mark Green who resigned from Congress earlier this year won the district by points As of this morning Behn is within points of Matt Van Epps the Republican nominee for the seat according to a survey from Wednesday Behn s run also pushes back against what has become conventional wisdom in countless Democratic circles that Democrats need to chase centrist voters even harder by running more conservative candidates in the mold of the former senator from West Virginia Joe Manchin who switched from a Democrat to an independent at the end of his career Related Progressives see an opening in Tennessee Behn s success in the district which encompasses much of Nashville and a large swath of central Tennessee has been built on a progressive platform focused on improving the material conditions of the working class while refusing corporate PAC and special interest donations She s also up against the heft of the national Republican political machine As of the week before the poll on Dec Republican PACs had committed million to attacking Behn and supporting Van Epps In the same period the national Democratic apparatus believing they have a shot to further shrink the GOP s dwindling House majority have committed million to the race It is a matter of life and death for my neighbors who live on TennCare in the aftermath of the big ugly bill Behn described the situation as having the Republican eye of Sauron breathing down my neck in an interview with Salon However she revealed that all the attacks from national Republicans haven t been able to distract from the fact that for the people of the district the current Republican majority has been a calamity for Tennesseans It is a matter of life and death for my neighbors who live on TennCare in the aftermath of the big ugly bill Behn explained referring to Trump s budget passed earlier this year She added that she would be a vote to restore the Medicaid funding that Republicans cut in that law That would save lives in my district and I would absolutely join the coalitions of legislators who want to extend Affordable Care Act subsidies We need your help to stay independent Subscribe in current times to promotion Salon s progressive journalism Behn also declared that in her experience the best way to connect with the elusive moderate Republican doesn t involve following any think tank playbook instead people need to be politically authentic and understand that voters aren t moderate they are pluralistic After having knocked thousands of doors across the state talking about really combative issues it s clear that people have a plurality of opinions and thoughts Behn disclosed Especially folks that live in rural towns they have more populist opinions And so when you re running on rooting out corruption and making multinational corporations pay what they owe in taxes as a working mom buying baby formula it really resonates Start your day with essential news from Salon Sign up for our free morning newsletter Crash Curriculum Behn who first entered politics as a society organizer around physical condition care in Tennessee explained that she hoped her campaign could be an inflection point for working-class organizing in Tennessee indicating that state-level issues like Tennessee s grocery tax have been common complaints from people in the district This type of organizing Behn explained would be necessary not only to potentially win in special elections like the one on Dec but also to build towards making districts like Tennessee s Seventh more competitive during higher turnout electoral contest seasons But Behn revealed she presumed winning the districts like the Seventh would be doable if the party and its candidates were willing to adopt the popular pro-worker and anti-corporate slant of Democrats like herself This is the choice in front of us Do we want to be a party that is bankrolled by the same corporations that are selling us out Behn required Or do we want to be a party that is leading the vanguard to protect workers and to fight for working families Read more about elections Calls grow for AOC to launch primary challenge against Chuck Schumer We ve got to get rid of him Trump stumbles and bumbles in the wake of Democratic wins Sunrise Movement targets Dem primaries Time to clear house The post Aftyn Behn s rise challenges Tennessee s GOP establishment appeared first on Salon com