Ben Watson

Republican Party

Georgia State Senate District 1

Tenure

2015 - Present

Term ends

2027

Years in position

11

Prior offices:

Georgia House of Representatives District 166

Years in office: 2013 - 2015

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Georgia House of Representatives District 163

Years in office: 2011 - 2013

Compensation

Base salary

$25,315.32/year

Per diem

$247/day

Elections and appointments

Last election

November 5, 2024

Education

Bachelor's

University of Georgia

M.D.

Medical College of Georgia

Personal

Profession

Primary Care Physician

Contact

Official website

Campaign website

Campaign X

Personal Facebook

Personal LinkedIn

Ben Watson (Republican Party) is a member of theGeorgia State Senate, representingDistrict 1. He assumed office on January 12, 2015. His current term ends on January 11, 2027.

Watson (Republican Party) ran for re-election to theGeorgia State Senate to representDistrict 1. He won in the general election onNovember 5, 2024.

Biography

Watson earned his M.D. from the Medical College of Georgia. His professional experience includes working as a primary care physician specializing in elderly patients.

Committee assignments

2025-2026

Watson was assigned to the following committees:

• Administrative Affairs Committee
• Senate Appropriations Committee
• Assignments Committee
• Senate Economic Development and Tourism Committee
• Senate Health and Human Services Committee,Chair
• Senate Judiciary Committee
• Senate Rules Committee,Vice Chair

2023-2024

Watson was assigned to the following committees:

• Ways and Means Committee
• Senate Appropriations Committee
• Senate Economic Development and Tourism Committee
• House Health Committee,Chair
• Senate Judiciary Committee
• Senate Rules Committee

2021-2022

Watson was assigned to the following committees:

• Senate Appropriations Committee
• Senate Health and Human Services Committee,Chair
• Senate Judiciary Committee
• Senate Transportation Committee

2019-2020

Watson was assigned to the following committees:

• Senate Appropriations Committee
• Insurance and Labor Committee,Ex-Officio
• Senate Health and Human Services Committee,Chairman
• Public Safety Committee
• Veterans, Military and Homeland Security Committee,Ex-Officio
• Senate Transportation Committee

2017 legislative session

At the beginning of the 2017 legislative session, this legislator served on the following committees:

2015 legislative session

At the beginning of the 2015 legislative session, Watson served on the following committees:

2013-2014

At the beginning of the 2013 legislative session, Watson served on the following committees:

2011-2012

In the 2011-2012 legislative session, Watson served on the following committees:

Sponsored legislation

The following table lists bills this person sponsored as a legislator, according toBillTrack50 and sorted by action history. Bills are sorted by the date of their last action. The following list may not be comprehensive. To see all bills this legislator sponsored, click on the legislator's name in the title of the table.

Elections

2024

See also: Georgia State Senate elections, 2024

General election

General election for Georgia State Senate District 1

IncumbentBen Watson won election in the general election for Georgia State Senate District 1 on November 5, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Ben Watson (R)	100.0	76,992

---

	Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 76,992
= candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Republican primary election

Republican primary for Georgia State Senate District 1

IncumbentBen Watson defeatedBeth Majeroni in the Republican primary for Georgia State Senate District 1 on May 21, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Ben Watson	61.7	8,264
		Beth Majeroni	38.3	5,137

---

	Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 13,401
= candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Endorsements

2022

See also: Georgia State Senate elections, 2022

General election

General election for Georgia State Senate District 1

IncumbentBen Watson defeatedJames Jones in the general election for Georgia State Senate District 1 on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Ben Watson (R)	61.4	43,080
	Submit photo	James Jones (D)	38.6	27,106

---

	Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 70,186
= candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Georgia State Senate District 1

James Jones defeatedAndrew Niquette in the Democratic primary for Georgia State Senate District 1 on May 24, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Submit photo	James Jones	80.1	8,698
	Submit photo	Andrew Niquette	19.9	2,163

---

	There were noincumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 10,861
= candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Republican primary election

Republican primary for Georgia State Senate District 1

IncumbentBen Watson advanced from the Republican primary for Georgia State Senate District 1 on May 24, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Ben Watson	100.0	21,070

---

	Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 21,070
= candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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2020

See also: Georgia State Senate elections, 2020

General election

General election for Georgia State Senate District 1

IncumbentBen Watson won election in the general election for Georgia State Senate District 1 on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Ben Watson (R)	100.0	72,192

---

	Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 72,192
= candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Kerri McGinty (D)

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Georgia State Senate District 1

Kerri McGinty advanced from the Democratic primary for Georgia State Senate District 1 on June 9, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Submit photo	Kerri McGinty	100.0	10,801

---

	There were noincumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 10,801
= candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you,complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data?Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Georgia State Senate District 1

IncumbentBen Watson advanced from the Republican primary for Georgia State Senate District 1 on June 9, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Ben Watson	100.0	18,078

---

	Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 18,078
= candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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2018

See also:Georgia State Senate elections, 2018

General election

General election for Georgia State Senate District 1

IncumbentBen Watson defeatedSandra Workman in the general election for Georgia State Senate District 1 on November 6, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Ben Watson (R)	60.8	42,316
		Sandra Workman (D)	39.2	27,258

---

	Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 69,574 (100.00% precincts reporting)
= candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Georgia State Senate District 1

Sandra Workman advanced from the Democratic primary for Georgia State Senate District 1 on May 22, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Sandra Workman	100.0	7,193

---

	There were noincumbents in this race. The results have been certified.	Total votes: 7,193
= candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you,complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data?Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Georgia State Senate District 1

IncumbentBen Watson advanced from the Republican primary for Georgia State Senate District 1 on May 22, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Ben Watson	100.0	9,262

---

	Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified.	Total votes: 9,262
= candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you,complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data?Contact our sales team.

2016

See also:Georgia State Senate elections, 2016

Elections for theGeorgia State Senate took place in 2016. The primary election took place on May 24, 2016, and the general election was held on November 8, 2016. The candidate filing deadline was March 11, 2016.

IncumbentBen Watson ran unopposed in the Georgia State Senate District 1 general election.^[1][2]

Georgia State Senate, District 1 General Election, 2016
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Ben WatsonIncumbent (unopposed)	100.00%	59,151
Total Votes				59,151
Source:Georgia Secretary of State

IncumbentBen Watson ran unopposed in the Georgia State Senate District 1 Republican primary.^[3][4]

Georgia State Senate, District 1 Republican Primary, 2016
Party		Candidate
	Republican	Ben WatsonIncumbent (unopposed)

2014

See also:Georgia State Senate elections, 2014

Elections for theGeorgia State Senate took place in 2014. A primary election took place on May 20, 2014, with a runoff election taking place where necessary on July 22, 2014. The general election was held onNovember 4, 2014. Thesignature filing deadline for candidates wishing to run in this election was March 7, 2014.B.L. "Ben" Watson was unopposed in the Republican primary and was unchallenged in the general election.^[5][6][7]

2012

See also:Georgia House of Representatives elections, 2012

Watson ran in the2012 election forGeorgia House of Representatives District 166. Watson ran unopposed in the Republican primary on July 31, 2012. He was unopposed in the general election, which took place on November 6, 2012.^[8][9]

Georgia House of Representatives, District 166, General Election, 2012

Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Ben WatsonIncumbent	100%	24,041
Total Votes				24,041

2010

See also:Georgia House of Representatives elections, 2010

Watson defeatedJeremy Scheinbart (D) in the November 2 general election.^[10]

Georgia House of Representatives, District 163 (2010)
Candidates		Votes	Percent
Ben Watson (R)		15,449	80.2%
Jeremy Scheinbart (D)		3,818	19.8%

Watson defeated Joe Welch and Gary Wisenbaker in the July 20 primary.^[11]

Georgia House of Representatives, District 163 - Republican Primary (2010)
Candidates		Votes	Percent
Ben Watson		5,543	64.5%
Joe T. Welch		1,604	18.7%
Gary Wisenbaker		1,452	16.9%

Campaign themes

2024

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also:Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Ben Watson did not completeBallotpedia's 2024 Candidate Connection survey.

2022

Ben Watson did not completeBallotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.

2020

Ben Watson did not completeBallotpedia's 2020 Candidate Connection survey.

Campaign finance summary

Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf.Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at theFEC website. Clickhere for more on federal campaign finance law andhere for more on state campaign finance law.

Noteworthy events

Decision to self-quarantine for coronavirus on March 19, 2020

See also:Political incumbents, candidates, and government officials diagnosed with COVID-19 or quarantined due to the coronavirus pandemic, 2020

Watson, along with hisGeorgia State Senate colleagues, entered self-quarantine after State Sen.Brandon Beach tested positive for coronavirus.^[12]

Coronavirus pandemic
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Personal

Note: Pleasecontact us if the personal information below requires an update.
Watson and his wife, Bernice, have three children.

Scorecards

See also:State legislative scorecards andState legislative scorecards in Georgia

Ascorecard evaluates a legislator’s voting record. Its purpose is to inform voters about the legislator’s political positions. Because scorecards have varying purposes and methodologies, each report should be considered on its own merits. For example, an advocacy group’s scorecard may assess a legislator’s voting record on one issue while a state newspaper’s scorecard may evaluate the voting record in its entirety.

Ballotpedia is in the process of developing an encyclopedic list of published scorecards. Some states have a limited number of available scorecards or scorecards produced only by select groups. It is Ballotpedia’s goal to incorporate all available scorecards regardless of ideology or number.

Click here for an overview of legislative scorecards in all 50 states.  To contribute to the list of Georgia scorecards, email suggestions toeditor@ballotpedia.org.

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

See also

2024 Elections

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External links

Footnotes

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