Rutherford County is a county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is located in Middle Tennessee. As of a 2021 estimate, the population was 352,182, making it the fifth-most populous county in Tennessee. A study conducted by the University of Tennessee projects Rutherford County to become the third largest county in Tennessee by population by 2050. Its county seat is Murfreesboro, which is also the geographic center of Tennessee. As of 2010, it is the center of population of Tennessee. Rutherford County is included in the Nashville-Davidson–Murfreesboro–Franklin, TN Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Smyrna is a town in Rutherford County, Tennessee. Smyrna's population was 53,070 at the 2020 census, making it the largest town in Tennessee by population in that census. In 2007, U.S. News & World Report listed Smyrna as one of the best places in the United States to retire. Smyrna is part of the Nashville metropolitan statistical area.
State Route 266 is a state highway in Middle Tennessee. The southern terminus is in a currently undeveloped section of Smyrna at an interchange with I-24. The northern terminus is in Lebanon at an intersection with US 70.
The 2014 United States Senate election in Tennessee took place on November 4, 2014, to elect a member of the United States Senate from the State of Tennessee. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander defeated Democrat Gordon Ball, and was re-elected to a third term in office with 61.9% of the vote against 31.9%.
Owen Michael Carter was an American politician and a Republican member of the Tennessee House of Representatives representing District 29 from January 8, 2013 to May 15, 2021. He served as the Chair of the House Civil Justice Committee.
Andrew Lee Todd Sr. was an American lawyer, educator and Democratic member of the Tennessee General Assembly.
Susan M. Lynn is an American politician and a Republican member of the Tennessee House of Representatives representing District 57 since January 8, 2013. Lynn served from January 2003 until November 2010. In 2012 Lynn was re-elected to the Tennessee House.
Mary Littleton is an American politician. A Republican, she has represented District 78 in the Tennessee House of Representatives since January 8, 2013.
Gloria Johnson is an American politician and Democratic member of the Tennessee House of Representatives currently representing District 90, and formerly District 13, based in Knoxville. In April 2023, she and two other state representatives faced expulsion votes from the Tennessee General Assembly after taking to the floor of the State House unrecognized to protest gun violence. Johnson was the only one of the three legislators not to be expelled. Johnson is currently seeking the Democratic Party nomination for the 2024 United States Senate election in Tennessee currently held by incumbent Republican Marsha Blackburn.
Tilman Goins is an American politician and a Republican who represented District 10 in the Tennessee House of Representatives from 2013 to 2018, and a former county commissioner from Hamblen County, TN. He is a veteran of both the US Marine Corps and the US Army.
Andrew Ellis Farmer is an American politician and a Republican member of the Tennessee House of Representatives representing District 17 since January 8, 2013.
Antonio Parkinson is an American politician and a Democratic member of the Tennessee House of Representatives representing District 98 since his special election March 8, 2011, following the death of Representative Ulysses Jones, Jr.
Ryan Williams is an American politician and a Republican member of the Tennessee House of Representatives representing District 42 since January 2011. In 2016, he was elected by his colleagues to serve as the Republican Caucus Chairman.
Pat Marsh is an American politician and a Republican member of the Tennessee House of Representatives representing District 62 since winning the special election on October 13, 2009, to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Representative Curt Cobb.
Karen D. Camper is an American politician and a Democratic member of the Tennessee House of Representatives representing District 87 since her special election March 31, 2008 to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Gary Rowe. She was a candidate for the 2023 Memphis mayoral election.
The Nissan Smyrna assembly plant is an automobile assembly plant in Smyrna, Tennessee, that began production in 1983 and employs approximately 8,000 people. The plant has an annual capacity of 640,000 cars, which was the highest in North America in 2017.
Jerome Moon is an American politician. A Republican, he represents District 8, encompassing parts of Blount County, in the Tennessee House of Representatives. Moon, the former chair of the Blount County Commission, was appointed the State House seat vacated by Art Swann on December 13, 2017.
Tim Rudd is an American politician and a member of the Republican Party. He was elected to the Tennessee House of Representatives in 2016, representing District 34.
The juvenile justice system and jail of Rutherford County, Tennessee became a subject of state-wide, national and international controversy in the 2020s, when a journalistic investigation revealed a pattern of abnormal and illegal incarceration of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of children in the county's juvenile jail at a rate ten times the state's average.
Donna Scott Davenport is the first judge to have overseen the Rutherford County, Tennessee juvenile justice system, filling the newly created position in 2000. She is also a former adjunct professor at her alma mater, Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU). She presided over the juvenile court and legal system for the county, appointed magistrates, set protocols, directed police and heard cases involving minors, including parents charged with child neglect. Despite published reports that Davenport operated juvenile court outside of the tenets of law, including by her own admission, Davenport remained on the bench until retiring at the end of her term in September 2022 while lawmakers debated ending her tenure sooner. Her actions while on the bench are the subject of a four-part podcast, The Kids of Rutherford County.
