| Senator Ben Watson, M.D., a Republican, has served in
the Georgia State Senate since 2014. He represents Senate
District 1, which includes all of Bryan and Liberty
counties and most of Chatham County. Sen. Watson chairs the Senate Committee on Health and
Human Services and the Appropriations Subcommittee
on Health and Human Development. He is a member of
the Senate Committees on Appropriations, Judiciary,
Administrative Affairs, and serves as an Ex-Officio
member of the Senate Committee on Economic Development and Tourism. He is also Vice Chairman for the Senate Committee on Rules. Sen. Watson previously served in the Senate Committees on Public Safety, Insurance and Labor, as Vice Chair
of the Committee on Economic Development and Tourism, and as Chairman of the Committee on Veterans,
Military, and Homeland Security. In 2010, Sen. Watson was elected to represent the islands district of Savannah in the Georgia House of
Representatives. During his tenure in the House, he served as Vice Chairman of the Health and Human
Services Committee, Secretary of the Science and Technology Committee and a member of the Higher
Education Committee. In his final two years as a House member, he served on the Appropriations Committee
and its Health Subcommittee. He was proud to be the only medical doctor serving as a legislator during his
four years in the House. Sen. Watson has been a primary care physician in Savannah since 1988, specializing in internal medicine and
geriatrics. A native of Twin City, Georgia, he graduated from Emanuel County Institute and the University of
Georgia before earning his medical degree from the Medical College of Georgia.Sen. Watson and his wife, Bernice, a retired public school special education teacher, reside on Isle of Hope.
They have three sons, two daughters-in-law, two grandsons and one granddaughter. |