Wes Watkins

Wesley Wade " Wes " Watkins (* December 15, 1938 in De Queen, Arkansas ) is an American politician. Between 1977 and 1991, and from 1997 to 2003, he was the third election district of the state of Oklahoma in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Career

Wes Watkins attended until 1956, the Bennington High School and then studied until 1960 at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater. From 1960 to 1967 he was a member of the flight department of the National Guard of Oklahoma. Between 1961 and 1963 he worked for the Department of Agriculture in Washington DC After that, he was employed until 1966 in a leading position at the University of Oklahoma.

Watkins was a member of the Democratic Party. In 1972, he participated as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention. In the years 1975 and 1976 he was a member of the Senate of Oklahoma. In 1977 he was selected in the third district of Oklahoma in the U.S. House of Representatives, where he became the successor of 30 years no longer candidates Carl Albert on January 3, 1977. After he was confirmed in the following elections each in his office, he could from his position in Congress to exercise initially until January 3, 1991. There he was most of the time a member of the Budget Committee. In 1990, Watkins gave up for reelection. In advance of the upcoming 1990 gubernatorial election Watkins competed unsuccessfully for his party's nomination for this office. Four years later, in 1994, he ran as an Independent again unsuccessfully for the governorship.

In the congressional elections of 1996, Watkins sought a return to the U.S. House of Representatives. The Republicans urged him to run as their candidate, and offered him in return for membership in all major congressional committees, which dealt with budgetary issues ( Appropriations, Budget and Ways and Means ). Watkins took the offer and was re- elected as a Republican to the House of Representatives. There he broke off on 3 January 1997 William K. Brewster, who had taken his seat in 1991. After two elections Watkins was able to spend in Congress until January 3, 2003, three more coherent legislative periods. There, he was initially considered moderate. But his voting behavior became increasingly conservative. After a reorganization of electoral districts in Oklahoma, in his hometown of Stillwater was taken out of his district, Watkins decided not to run in 2002. Its seat then fell to the Republican Frank Lucas.