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Former Member, Education & Labor Committee, United States House of Representatives
Former Member, Foreign Affairs Committee, United States House of Representatives
Former Member, Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs, United States House of Representatives
Former Member, Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions, United States House of Representatives
Former Member, Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Investment, United States House of Representatives
Former Member, Subcommittee on Middle East, North Africa, and International Terrorism, United States House of Representatives
Former Member, Subcommittee on Technology Modernization, United States House of Representatives
Former Member, Veterans' Affairs Committee, United States House of Representatives
Member, Education & Labor
Member, Foreign Affairs
Member, Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs
Member, Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions
Member, Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Investment
Member, Subcommittee on Middle East, North Africa, and International Terrorism
Member, Subcommittee on Technology Modernization
Member, Veterans' Affairs
— Father's Occupation:
Hobbies or Special Talents:
Climbing Mt. Everest, Dog Musher in the Iditarod
— Mother's Occupation:
Priority Issues:
Homeland security, spending and national debt, veteran support, protecting seniors, reforming healthcare, protecting pro-life policy and values, and expanding the economy in Kansas.
1. Do you generally support pro-choice or pro-life legislation?
- Pro-life
1. In order to balance the budget, do you support an income tax increase on any tax bracket?
- Unknown Position
2. Do you support expanding federal funding to support entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare?
- Unknown Position
1. Do you support the regulation of indirect campaign contributions from corporations and unions?
- Unknown Position
Do you support increasing defense spending?
- Yes
1. Do you support federal spending as a means of promoting economic growth?
- Unknown Position
2. Do you support lowering corporate taxes as a means of promoting economic growth?
- Yes
3. Do you support providing financial relief to businesses AND/OR corporations negatively impacted by the state of national emergency for COVID-19?
- Yes
1. Do you support requiring states to adopt federal education standards?
- Unknown Position
1. Do you support government funding for the development of renewable energy (e.g. solar, wind, geo-thermal)?
- Unknown Position
2. Do you support the federal regulation of greenhouse gas emissions?
- Unknown Position
1. Do you generally support gun-control legislation?
- No
1. Do you support repealing the 2010 Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare")?
- Unknown Position
2. Do you support requiring businesses to provide paid medical leave during public health crises, such as COVID-19?
- Yes
1. Do you support the construction of a wall along the Mexican border?
- Yes
2. Do you support requiring immigrants who are unlawfully present to return to their country of origin before they are eligible for citizenship?
- Unknown Position
1. Should the United States use military force to prevent governments hostile to the U.S. from possessing a weapon of mass destruction (for example: nuclear, biological, chemical)?
- Unknown Position
2. Do you support reducing military intervention in Middle East conflicts?
- Unknown Position
Do you generally support removing barriers to international trade (for example: tariffs, quotas, etc.)?
- Unknown Position
1. Do you generally support pro-choice or pro-life legislation?
- Pro-life
1. In order to balance the budget, do you support an income tax increase on any tax bracket?
- Unknown Position
2. In order to balance the budget, do you support reducing defense spending?
- No
1. Do you support the regulation of indirect campaign contributions from corporations and unions?
- Unknown Position
1. Do you support federal spending as a means of promoting economic growth?
- Unknown Position
2. Do you support lowering corporate taxes as a means of promoting economic growth?
- Unknown Position
1. Do you support requiring states to adopt federal education standards?
- No
1. Do you support government funding for the development of renewable energy (e.g. solar, wind, thermal)?
- Unknown Position
2. Do you support the federal regulation of greenhouse gas emissions?
- Unknown Position
1. Do you generally support gun-control legislation?
- No
1. Do you support repealing the 2010 Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare")?
- Yes
1. Do you support the construction of a wall along the Mexican border?
- Unknown Position
2. Do you support requiring immigrants who are unlawfully present to return to their country of origin before they are eligible for citizenship?
- Unknown Position
Do you support the legalization of marijuana for recreational purposes?
- Unknown Position
1. Should the United States use military force in order to prevent governments hostile to the U.S. from possessing a nuclear weapon?
- Unknown Position
2. Do you support increased American intervention in Middle Eastern conflicts beyond air support?
- Unknown Position
Latest Action: House - 06/19/2019 Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
Tracker:Latest Action: House - 06/14/2019 Referred to the House Committee on Education and Labor.
Tracker:Latest Action: House - 06/12/2019 Referred to the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
Tracker:On October 26, 2018, The Topeka Capital-Journal reported that a woman, Chelsea Scarlett, said that "she was in a room with Watkins 12 years ago when he locked the door, put his hands on her and made unwanted sexual advances." Watkins responded to the article by saying, "Another day, another round of second-hand, third-hand and anonymous ‘sources’ pushing Brett Kavanaugh-style destruction politics — this time, conveniently days before Election Day.” He was referring to the Supreme Court nominee who was accused of sexual assault before being confirmed to the court earlier in October. contact us if new developments occur with this story.
On July 14, 2020, Shawnee County District Attorney Mike Kagay announced that he had filed four counts—three felonies and one misdemeanor—against Watkins for fraudulent voting in a 2019 Topeka City Council election. The charges included interference with law enforcement by providing false information, voting without being qualified, unlawful advance voting, and failing to notify the DMV of change of address. The charges resulted from a December 2019 investigation over Watkins' use of a UPS store address in Topeka, Kansas, as his place of residence on a voter registration form. According to local news 13 WIBW, the charges also included an allegation that Watkins gave false information to a Shawnee County detective in February 2020 to "influence, impede or obstruct such officer’s" investigation. Watkins denied wrongdoing during a Republican primary debate on July 14: "I haven't done anything wrong, as soon as I realized that I put my mailing address instead of my physical address, we fixed it." Watkins said he was cooperating with the district attorney. On July 17, Watkins announced that he was temporarily resigning his House committee membership. House Republicans require any member charged with a felony carrying a sentence of two or more years to resign committee membership pending the charges. On August 13, Roll Call's Katherine Tully-McManus reported that a subcommittee of the House Ethics Committee was launching an investigation. She wrote, "The House Ethics Committee typically ends inquiries once a lawmaker is out of Congress, whether by retirement or electoral defeat. If the subcommittee does not issue a report on Watkins by the end of the year, the investigation will likely end without a public outcome." The House ethics panel closed the investigation on January 3, 2021—when Watkins' term ended—without coming to a conclusion.
On October 26, 2018, The Topeka Capital-Journal reported that a woman, Chelsea Scarlett, said that "she was in a room with Watkins 12 years ago when he locked the door, put his hands on her and made unwanted sexual advances." Watkins responded to the article by saying, "Another day, another round of second-hand, third-hand and anonymous ‘sources’ pushing Brett Kavanaugh-style destruction politics — this time, conveniently days before Election Day.” He was referring to the Supreme Court nominee who was accused of sexual assault before being confirmed to the court earlier in October.
