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President Trump’s approval is dropping across the country, even in states that backed him strongly in 2016 and 2020. That’s partly why Democrats did so well in elections in 2025. Aftyn Behn was one of those Democrats. In a December special election in a U.S. House district in the Nashville area that Trump won by 22 percentage points in 2024, Behn lost by just nine. And Behn didn’t succeed by bashing her own party, as many red-state Democrats do. Instead, the progressive and former Indivisible staffer leaned into affordability issues and Trump’s connections to Jeffrey Epstein. In the latest edition of Right Now, she describes why her campaign was so successful. Behn, who is a state representative, also explains why it’s critical for Democrats across the country to pay attention to what happens in GOP-dominated states like Tennessee.
