The petition started by State Representative Aftyn Behn (D-Nashville), urging Tennessee Governor Bill Lee to abandon reported talks with Elon Musk’s Boring Company to potentially construct a tunnel connecting Nashville’s airport with its downtown, received less than 1,000 signatures within its first week.
Behn’s petition was prompted after The Nashville Business Journal reported earlier this month that Tennessee officials and executives at The Boring Company have been discussing a potential tunnel, between five and 10 miles long, for months.
“Elon Musk is an absolute grifter, and a scammer, and he has ongoing deals and pitches to cities across the country in which those promises have been unfulfilled,” said the Democrat during an appearance on WSMV 4, which she later posted to social media.
“He wants to see his empire grow in this city,” said Behn of Musk. “Nashvillians are saying no, we don’t want Musk anywhere near Nashville.”
Behn has elsewhere claimed Musk wants to build the tunnel in Nashville due to activist opposition to expanding his xAI facilities in Memphis, where his artificial intelligence company is constructing the world’s largest supercomputer, and was recently threatened with a lawsuit.
Despite Behn’s promotion of the petition on the Nashville television station, just 978 individuals had signed the petition by press time on change.org, which does not require users to provide proof of residence in Nashville or Tennessee before becoming a signatory.
At press time, the change.org page for the petition indicated that Lee was notified of its existence six days ago, suggesting it garnered less than 1,000 signatures over that period.
Behn’s petition against Musk comes shortly after he left the Trump administration, where he served as a special government employee while advising the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
It also comes weeks after Behn joined other local officials in a letter which condemned the Trump administration for the charges filed by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) against U.S. Representative LaMonica McIver (D-NJ-10), who allegedly assaulted a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent while attempting to gain access to a detention facility.
Just weeks before signing the letter, Behn was herself in the spotlight after U.S. Representative Andy Ogles (R-TN-05) highlighted videos posted to social media in which she appeared to brag about obstructing law enforcement during the federal immigration enforcement operation that saw about 200 illegal immigrants detained.
“She just posted a 15-minute video of her and a friend stalking the Tennessee Highway Patrol as they carried out official duties – openly admitting they were trying to stall law enforcement from stopping illegal aliens,” wrote Ogles, whose congressional district includes much of Nashville.
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Elon Musk” by The Royal Society. CC BY-SA 3.0.
Another dellusional Karen. I must say, if nothing else, the dems are consistent. Consistently wrong about everything.
Behn should be charged with obstruction already, what’s the holdup? Pitiful example of a legislator.
As the democrats continue to beat their dead horse.
Democrats hate successful people.
““Elon Musk is an absolute grifter, and a scammer,”
That’s a high compliment coming from a Marxist Demonrat criminal like Aftyn Behn.