John Rose (Tennessee politician)


John Williams Rose is an American politician and businessman serving as the U.S. Representative for Tennessee's 6th congressional district since 2019. A Republican, he was commissioner of agriculture for Tennessee and president of Boson Software, LLC.

Early life and education

Rose was born and raised in Cookeville, Tennessee, and earned an agribusiness economics degree from Tennessee Technological University, a master of science degree in agricultural economics from Purdue University, and a J.D. degree from Vanderbilt University.

Career

Rose co-founded Transcender Corp., a company that earned the Music City Future 50 Award five consecutive years. Transcender Corp. was sold in October 2000 for $60 million. Rose owns and is the president of Boson Software, LLC, which trains IT professionals.
A lifelong farmer, Rose served as commissioner of agriculture for Tennessee in 2002.
Rose has been chairman of the Tennessee State Fair Association since 2010.

U.S. House of Representatives

On August 2, 2018, Rose won the Republican primary for the 6th Congressional District after Rep. Diane Black left the seat to run for governor. He defeated Dawn Barlow in the general election on November 6, 2018, with more than 70 percent of the vote. After being elected, Rose hired former Congressman Van Hilleary as his Chief of Staff.
Americans for Prosperity gave him a 91% conservative evaluation in 2019.
Committee assignments

Personal life

Rose and his wife, Chelsea, live in Cookeville, Tennessee with their son. He operates a family farm in rural Temperance Hall, west of Cookeville. In late 2019, Chelsea was expecting a baby boy, which her and John named Mack Wayne Rose. On October 30, Rose left Washington, D.C. due to his wife having a pregnancy emergency, and on November 1, the baby died at the Cookeville Regional Medical Center. John and Chelsea published a statement, saying "We are heartbroken by the unexpected loss of our anticipated baby boy. God filled our hearts with joy and hope when we learned that we would be blessed with another child. We may not get to walk with him in this life, but we pray we see him in Glory one day." Mack Wayne was buried at the Rose Family cemetery on their farm in Temperance Hall.