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BY NIC MILLER
STAR STAFF
nic.miller@elizabethton.com

Sen. Rusty Crowe (R-3) will represent all of Carter County and Johnson County as part of a redistricting plan approved this week by the Tennessee Legislature.

“Every 10 years we look at the state’s population, and there are 33 of us in the senate. We divide the 33 into the state population, and it comes out to around 209,000 for each senate district,” Crowe said. “They look at the districts we are in and see how far under or over each district is due to population growth or loss.

“After the vote yesterday, I will have all of Carter County, all of Washington County, I will also lose Unicoi County and pick up Johnson County,” Crowe said.

Crowe has represented Johnson County before. “Years ago, I had Johnson County from 1993 to 2002. I have many friends up there, my kids grew up there, and I spent a lot of time in that area.”

Sen. Steve Southerland (R-District 1) will pick up Unicoi County.

“I was really pleased to get back all of Carter County, as I have represented that county for many, many years. Carter County is where my roots are. My granddad grew up there and married my grandmother, who went to Range School in Turkey Town,” Crowe said.

“I am really excited to get back to Johnson County. That’s where my kids grew up and I had so many friends up there,” he added. “I was fortunate enough to be able to help with lots of the things in that county such as the hospital, the visitors center, as well as the naming of the Veterans Memorial Highway and the Purple Heart Trail.”

And while the redistrict map was approved on Thursday, its effects will not take place until after this year’s election in November.

“We voted to approve that map yesterday, however it does not really become official for those representing those areas until the November elections,” Crowe said.

Crowe said he will seek re-election this year.