Sam Watson wins State Senate seat
Colquitt County farmer and former State Representative Sam Watson coasted to victory in Tuesday’s special election for Senate District 11. Watson garnered 10,097 votes in unofficial returns Tuesday, easily defeating Democrat Mary Weaver-Anderson who earned 3,048 votes and libertarian John Monds who managed to earn only 134 votes.
An examination of the local results shows that Watson was the favorite of a majority of Seminole County voters with 702 casting their ballot for him while Weaver-Anderson came in with 228 and Monds a distant third with four votes.
Senator-elect Watson is 44 years old and has served in the Georgia House of Representatives for the past 10 years.
The District 11 vacancy came about after the resignation of Sen. Dean Burke soon after the Nov. 2022 general election. Burke resigned effective Dec. 30, 2022 to become the chief medical officer of the Georgia Department of Community Health.
Watson is a lifelong Georgian. He and his family live and farm on the family farm in southern Colquitt County. Agriculture is the number one industry in the state and Watson says agriculture has been and will continue to be a focus of his legislative service.
Once the election results are certified, the Senator elect is expected to be sworn in post haste and will join his fellow Senators, who are already at work in the General Assembly in Atlanta