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Diane Watson announces plan to retire from Congress
Rep. Diane Watson, D-California, will announce tomorrow that she's not running for re-election to Congress.
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Kitty Felde
)
Congresswoman Diane Watson of Los Angeles today said she won’t seek re-election this year because she wants to spend more time with her 100-year-old mother.
“I haven’t really had the chance to spend the quality time with my mom," said Congresswoman Diane Watson during a press conference. "She broke her hip a couple of days before Christmas and she went into rehab and she is coming home this weekend. And I welcome time to spend with her.”
Democrat Diane Watson announced Thursday, Feb. 11, 2010 that she is not running for re-election to Congress.
Watson’s represented parts of South Los Angeles, Culver City and Hancock Park for nearly a decade. She declined to endorse a successor, but reportedly will back State Assembly Speaker Karen Bass. Los Angeles Deputy City Attorney Felton Newell is also running.
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Watson’s well known in Southern California politics. In 1975 after a career as an elementary school teacher and school psychologist, she became the first African American woman elected to the board of the Los Angeles Unified School District.
Three years later, voters sent Watson to the state senate, where she spent more than a decade.
In 1999, President Clinton appointed her U.S. Ambassador to Micronesia.
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But the game has changed: Congress voted to eliminate funding for public media across the country. Here at LAist that means a loss of $1.7 million in our budget every year. We want to assure you that despite growing threats to free press and free speech, LAist will remain a voice you know and trust. Speaking frankly, the amount of reader support we receive will help determine how strong of a newsroom we are going forward to cover the important news in our community.
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