Albert Watson (politician)
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Albert William Watson (August 30, 1922 - September 25, 1994) was a South Carolina politician.
Watson was born in Sumter, South Carolina and served in the U.S. Army Air Corps. He graduated from the University of South Carolina law school in 1950 and opened a law practice in the state capital, Columbia. Watson was elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives in 1954, representing Richland County. He served from 1955 to 1958 and from 1961 to 1962.
In 1962, Watson won the Democratic nomination for South Carolina's 2nd Congressional District. He faced Floyd Spence, a fellow state representative from neighboring Lexington County who had turned Republican a few months earlier. The election was far closer than expected, with Watson winning by only five percentage points largely due to the support of his mentor, Senator Strom Thurmond. The district, based in Columbia, had been under growing Republican influence for some time.
Like Thurmond, Watson was an open and unashamed racist and segregationist. He supported Barry Goldwater's campaign for President in 1964 and headed South Carolina's "Democrats for Goldwater" organization. Partly because of his support for Goldwater, he was reelected without opposition as Goldwater swept the state. However, the Democratic caucus stripped him of his seniority for his support of Goldwater. He resigned on February 1, 1965 and ran as a Republican in a June 15 special election to fill his vacant seat. He won with 69% of the vote, becoming the first Republican to represent South Carolina in the House since Reconstruction. He was comfortably reelected in 1966 and 1968.
In 1970, Watson ran for Governor of South Carolina. He won the Republican nomination due to a major assist from Thurmond, who had become a Republican himself in 1964. However, Watson's open racism caused many Republicans to shy away from him, despite Thurmond's aggressive campaigning for him. Watson lost the election by over 29,000 votes to Democratic Lieutenant Governor John C. West. Historians consider Watson's gubernatorial campaign to be the last openly racist campaign in South Carolina, and one of the last in the South. [1] Ironically, Spence, whom Watson defeated in 1962, succeeded Watson in his House seat. Spence went on to hold the seat for 30 years.
Watson retired from public life and practiced law in Columbia until his death.
