11/26/2025
I know I live up here in Wisconsin, but I got my start organizing under the wing of Aftyn who is running for Congress in District 7 in Tennessee. Sheâs an incredible friend, advocate, and human so I need to make sure yâall have the context you need when it comes to the woman she is.
People keep sharing that old photo of Aftyn for Congress like it is supposed to expose her. Anyone who was actually there knows it captures something completely different. It shows courage.
I was there. So letâs set some things straight.
When the news broke about David Byrd in 2019, we believed the response would be swift. Two women came forward saying he sexually assaulted them when they were teenagers. Then the recording surfaced where Byrd apologized to a survivor. It was damning, and we assumed accountability would follow, as it ought to.
Instead people in power stayed silent. They protected him. They even promoted him to a subcommittee chair over education. It was a gut punch.
So our little team came together. We sat with survivors. We showed up every day. We held each other up when the reality of what was happening felt impossible to accept. Aftyn was the one who brought us together. She was the one who kept us focused and steady. None of us would have made it through that fight without her leadership.
We spent 30 hours sitting outside Governor Leeâs office. We slept on the floor. We begged for the bare minimum. We asked him to say that what Byrd did was wrong. He refused.
When the next House session began, survivors filled the gallery again. Lawmakers carried on like it was any other day. And, as she had before Aftyn stood up and said what the room refused to face. She spoke for the vulnerable. She spoke for the powerless. She told the truth when the institution around her would not.
Now here we are, one week out from a special election in a district that usually has a 20 point Republican lean. Because of the work Aftyn has done, that gap has shrunk to TWO POINTS. Two points in a place where someone like her is not supposed to stand a chance.
And of course the attacks have started. Of course they are grabbing at straws. Of course they are twisting anything they can find. That is the game. They cannot run against her record, so they try to run against her character.
But I know who she is. I stood beside her when she refused to sit quietly while powerful men looked away. She is courageous, kind, intelligent, fearless, and fiercely dedicated to the people of Tennessee.
That is who is running for Congress in TN-07. She is exactly the leader Tennessee deserves.
Go win this, friend. đşđ¸
