Benjamin Luther Watson (born July 27, 1959) is an American politician who has served in the

Georgia State Senate The Georgia State Senate is the upper house of the Georgia General Assembly, in the U.S. state of Georgia. The Georgia State Senate and the lower house of the General Assembly, the Georgia House of Representatives, comprise the bicameral leg ...

from the 1st District since he was elected in 2014. He previously served in the

Georgia House of Representatives The Georgia House of Representatives is the lower house of the Georgia General Assembly (the state legislature) of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. There are currently 180 elected members. Republican Party (United States), Repu ...

from 2010 to 2014. Watson is an active member of the Republican Party, and he has served on various legislative committees. Since 2019, he has chaired the State Senate's Health and Human Services committee.

Background and education

According to his State Senate biography, Watson was born in 1959 and grew up in

Twin City, Georgia Twin City, formerly known as Graymont, is a city in Emanuel County, Georgia, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 1,642. History Twin City gets its name from the combining of two adjacent towns, Graymont and Summit ...

. He now resides in

Isle of Hope, Georgia Isle of Hope is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Chatham County, Georgia, United States. It is part of the Savannah Metropolitan Statistical Area, and at the 2020 U.S. census its population was 2,357. The island ...

with his wife, Bernice, who is a retired Savannah-Chatham Public School teacher. They have three sons. Former U.S. Representative

Jack Kingston John Heddens Kingston (born April 24, 1955) is an American businessman, lobbyist, and politician who served as U.S. representative for in southeast Georgia, serving from 1993 to 2015. He is a member of the Republican Party and was part of the ...

is Watson's brother-in-law. Watson graduated high school from the Emanuel County Institute in 1977 and graduated with a BA from the

University of Georgia The University of Georgia (UGA or Georgia) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Athens, Georgia, United States. Chartered in 1785, it is the oldest public university in th ...

in 1981. He earned his medical degree from the

Medical College of Georgia The Medical College of Georgia (often referred to as MCG) is the medical school of Augusta University, the state's only public medical school, and one of the top 10 largest medical schools in the United States. Established in 1828 as the Medical ...

Augusta University Augusta University (AU) is a public research university and academic medical center in Augusta, Georgia, United States. It is part of the University System of Georgia and has satellite medical campuses in Savannah, Albany, Rome, and Athens, Geo ...

Career

Watson has practiced internal medicine at SouthCoast Medical Group since 1988, and he specializes in elderly patients. He began his career in politics with his election to the Georgia State House of Representatives in 2010. He represented the 163rd District from 2011 to 2013; as a result of redistricting, he then represented the 166th District from 2013 to 2015. In 2014, he was elected to the

to represent

District 1 District 1 may refer to: Places * I District, Turku, in Finland * District 1, Düsseldorf, a district in Düsseldorf, Germany * Sector 1 (Bucharest), also known as District 1, in Bucharest, Romania * District I, Budapest in Budapest, Hungary * Dis ...

. He took over the seat from Sen.

Buddy Carter Earl LeRoy "Buddy" Carter (born September 6, 1957) is an American pharmacist and politician serving as the U.S. representative for Georgia's 1st congressional district since 2015. The district is based in Savannah and includes most of the state ...

, R-Pooler, who ran for a seat in Congress. List of current legislative committees and subcommittees: * Member, Appropriations * Member, Appropriations Subcommittee on Economic Development * Chair, Appropriations Subcommittee on Health and Human Development * Chair, Health and Human Services * Member, Judiciary * Member, Rules * Member, Administrative Affairs * Member, Economic Development and Tourism x-officio List of former committees: * Member, Georgia State Senate Appropriations Committee, present * Member, Georgia State Senate Health and Human Services Committee, present * Former Member, Georgia State Senate Public Safety Committee * Former Member, Georgia State Senate Retirement Committee * Former Member, Georgia State Senate Transportation Committee * Former Chair, Georgia State Senate Veterans, Military, and Homeland Security Committee * Former Vice Chair, Economic Development and Tourism Committee, Georgia State Senate * Former Member, Ethics Committee, Georgia State Senate * Former Member, Georgia State House of Representatives Appropriations Committee, Health Subcommittee * Former Member, Georgia State House of Representatives Health and Human Services Committee * Former Member, Georgia State House of Representatives Higher Education Committee * Former Secretary, Georgia State House of Representatives Science and Technology Committee * Former Member, Subcommittee on Abusive Billing Practices, Georgia State Senate * Former Member, Subcommittee on Community Health, Georgia State Senate * Former Member, Subcommittee on Insurance, Georgia State Senate * Former Member, Subcommittee on Pharmacology, Georgia State Senate * Former Member, Subcommittee on Healthcare Delivery and Access * Former Member, Subcommittee on Scope of Practice, Georgia State Senate * Former Member, Transportation, Georgia State Senate * Former Member, Veterans, Military and Homeland Security, Georgia State Senate In January 2024, Watson co-sponsored S.B.390, which would withhold government funding for any libraries in Georgia affiliated with the

American Library Association The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world. History 19th century ...

Elections

Georgia State Senate

2020

In the November 3rd, 2020 election, Ben Watson ran for re-election to the Georgia State Senate to represent District 1 as a Republican incumbent. He initially ran against a Democratic challenger, Kerri McGinty, who withdrew from the race on September 30, 2020. Watson thus won an additional two-year term unopposed.

2018

Ben Watson defeated Democratic challenger Sandra Workman in the general election for Georgia State Senate District 1 on November 6, 2018. Watson received 61% of the total votes cast. Watson was not challenged in the Republican Primary.

2014 - 2016

Ben Watson ran unopposed in the Georgia State Senate District 1 general elections in 2014 and 2016.

Georgia House of Representatives

2010

In 2010, Representative Burke Day (R) did not seek reelection to District 163 in the Georgia State House of Representatives. Ben Watson, Joe Welch and Gary Wisenbaker competed in the Republican primary on July 20 for the heavily Republican seat. Watson won the primary with 64.5% of the vote to Welch's 18.7% and Wisenbaker's 16.9%. In the November 2 General Election, Watson defeated Jeremy Scheinbart (D) with 80.2% of the vote.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Watson, Ben (politician) 1959 births 21st-century members of the Georgia General Assembly Living people Medical College of Georgia alumni People from Emanuel County, Georgia Physicians from Georgia (U.S. state) Republican Party Georgia (U.S. state) state senators Republican Party members of the Georgia House of Representatives University of Georgia alumni