John Chewning Watkins (born March 1, 1947) is a Virginia businessman and politician, who served in the

Virginia General Assembly The Virginia General Assembly is the legislative body of the Commonwealth of Virginia, the oldest continuous law-making body in the Western Hemisphere, the first elected legislative assembly in the New World, and was established on July 30, 161 ...

for 34 years. A

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

, Watkins served in the

Virginia House of Delegates The Virginia House of Delegates is one of the two parts of the Virginia General Assembly, the other being the Senate of Virginia. It has 100 members elected for terms of two years; unlike most states, these elections take place during odd-numbe ...

from 1982 to 1998, when he was elected to the

Senate of Virginia The Senate of Virginia is the upper house of the Virginia General Assembly. The Senate is composed of 40 senators representing an equal number of single-member constituent districts. The Senate is presided over by the lieutenant governor of Virg ...

. He represented the 10th district, situated in part of the

city of Richmond The City of Richmond was a local government area about east of Melbourne, the state capital of Victoria, Australia. The city covered an area of , and existed from 1855 until 1994. History Richmond was incorporated as a municipality on 24 Ap ...

and its westerly suburbs, including all of Amelia and Powhatan counties and parts of four others.Senate of Virginia bio

Early and family life

Born in

Petersburg, Virginia Petersburg is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 33,458. The Bureau of Economic Analysis combines Petersburg (along with the city of Colonial Heights) with Din ...

, Watkins graduated from

Virginia Tech Virginia Tech (formally the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and informally VT, or VPI) is a Public university, public Land-grant college, land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia. It also ...

with a degree in

horticulture Horticulture is the branch of agriculture that deals with the art, science, technology, and business of plant cultivation. It includes the cultivation of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, herbs, sprouts, mushrooms, algae, flowers, seaweeds and no ...

. He served in the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...

1970–71. He is President of Watkins Nurseries Inc.

Political career

Watkins was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates in 1982 and re-elected twice. He was then elected to the Virginia Senate. He became known for supporting public transit and regional cooperation. Although he faced no opponent in 2007, and easily defeated Democrat David Meade Bernard in 2011, in November 2014, Watkins announced that he would not run for re-election in 2016. He cited wanting to spend more time with his grandchildren as well as new ethics laws following the conviction of former Governor

Bob McDonnell Robert Francis McDonnell (born June 15, 1954) is an American attorney, businessman, politician, and former military officer who served as the 71st governor of Virginia from 2010 to 2014. His career ended after his corruption scandal and convic ...

. As legislators work part-time, many have full-time jobs. Watkins owns a nursery, land along Virginia Route 288 coveted by developers (for a shopping mall, among other things) and is Chairman of the Board of Essex Bank. The ''

Richmond Times-Dispatch The ''Richmond Times-Dispatch'' (''RTD'' or ''TD'' for short) is the primary daily newspaper in Richmond, Virginia, Richmond, the capital of Virginia, and the primary newspaper of record for the state of Virginia. Circulation The ''Times-Dispatc ...

'' noted that Watkins was also considered a maverick, more liberal than many in his party. In a hotly contested race to succeed him in the 10th District, Republican Glen Sturtevant defeated Democrat Daniel Gecker.

References

Sources

* * (Constituent/campaign website) *

External links

* * * 1947 births Living people Republican Party Virginia state senators Republican Party members of the Virginia House of Delegates Virginia Tech alumni People from Petersburg, Virginia 21st-century American politicians People from Midlothian, Virginia {{Virginia-VASenate-stub