Fox News anchor Julie Banderas not only tore into Democratic House candidate Aftyn Behn Wednesday, but also straight up said that Behn’s “mother did not do a very good job in raising her” and that the congressional hopeful clearly has “mommy issues.”
Banderas’ broadsides against Democratic state legislator and her mom come as Republicans are sweating a special election in a ruby red Tennessee district that Donald Trump won by 22 points just a year ago. A recent poll finds Behn down just two points against Republican nominee Matt Van Epps, prompting both the GOP and Democrats to pour tons of money and media attention into the race.
With Democrats overperforming polls in recent elections across the country and Trump’s approval numbers plummeting, a stunner in the Tennessee race – which is being held to replace former GOP Rep. Mark Green, who retired in June for a private sector job – would lower the number of Republicans in the House to 218, the exact number needed to maintain a majority.
Additionally, that comes before Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene leaves Congress in January and special elections are held early next year to fill seats in Democrat-leaning districts, potentially putting the GOP in the minority before the midterms.
Therefore, in recent days, Fox News and other MAGA media outlets have focused intently on Tennessee’s 7th District and Behn, which has included multiple on-air interviews with Epps while framing Behn as the “AOC of Tennessee” and “crazy left-wing radical.” The conservative cable giant has also blasted Behn repeatedly for a resurfaced clip in which she says she “hates Nashville,” using it to paint her as out of touch.
During a Wednesday discussion with Fox News contributor Kaylee McGhee White, Banderas brought up comments Behn made five years ago on a podcast in which the congressional candidate explained why she didn’t want to have kids.
“My therapist always asks me to transcribe my dreams when they happen. And the recurring dream I’ve had is standing up in a cafeteria full of women — I don’t know why it was there or whatever — and saying, ‘I don’t want children, I want power,’ and just screaming it at the top of my lungs,” Behn said in September 2020.
“For someone who grew up with my mother telling me never have kids because you’ll have to give up a lot and you’ll have to sacrifice professionally, which is what she was saying,” she continued. “And where I am now with seeing the consequences and the ramifications of women having kids and being in the political field and what they’re able to achieve because we don’t offer … It’s like the political field hasn’t met the challenge of working moms. They really haven’t.”
After highlighting a Daily Caller article that claimed Behn’s remarks reveal that “society has demonized motherhood and trivialized the blessing or marriage,” Banderas then decided to pass judgment on the way Behn was raised.
“Obviously, people are onto her, but I have to say that the conversation she says she had with her mother about how becoming a mother is gonna make you have to give everything up,” the Fox anchor declared. “I mean, obviously, her mother did not do a very good job in raising her.”
Seemingly agreeing with her colleague, McGhee White said Behn’s comments were “extremely disappointing” and the “the exact opposite of what young women my age need to hear.” Noting that both she and Banderas are mothers, McGhee White said she didn’t “expect” Behn to understand the sacrifices parents make for their children and how they aren’t “negative consequences that we have to grin and bear.”
Banderas, meanwhile, wrapped up the segment by taking one last shot at Behn and her mother.
“She’s got mommy issues, for sure,” she exclaimed.
