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Steve Watkins
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Steve Watkins
Steven Charles Watkins Jr. (born September 18, 1976) is an American politician and former military officer. He served as the U.S. representative for Kansas's 2nd congressional district from 2019 to 2021. He is a member of the Republican Party, and was succeeded by Jake LaTurner. He earned degrees from the United States Military Academy at West Point, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.), and Harvard.
Born on September 18, 1976, at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas, Watkins attended high school in Topeka, Kansas and left to attend the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, graduating in 1999.
Watkins is a graduate of the following military schools: Ranger, Airborne, Sapper, Air Assault, and Pathfinder. He was stationed at Fort Richardson in Alaska in 2000. He saw combat in 2004 in Khost Province and conducted combat patrols on the Afghanistan–Pakistan border, attaining the rank of captain. He began running dogs in Alaska in 2000, and competed in the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.[better source needed] He finished in 58th place in 2015, ninth from last, and almost four days behind the top three mushers. He did not finish the race in March 2018, having dropped out at Unalakleet, 261 miles (420 km) from the finish in Nome.
Watkins spent five years on active duty with the United States Army. After this, he began working as a defense contractor in Afghanistan, beginning in late 2004. In a 2015 Washington Post interview, he said he had suffered a traumatic brain injury in 2013, and had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder almost a decade prior. He told reporters his injury was a "tipping point" propelling him in the direction of "a more conventional life".
Watkins' father, a physician, set up a political action committee (PAC) to underwrite his son's primary campaign. It made two initial $64,000 advertising purchases during the primary. Local Republican Party leaders expressed concerns about Watkins' background. Kansas state Senator Steve Fitzgerald, a primary candidate, noted that Watkins had never voted in Kansas until a recent local election. In July, Donald Trump's 2020 campaign manager, Brad Parscale, stated that Watkins and a second candidate for the seat, Dennis Pyle, had put out campaign ads with Trump's photo on them, without authorization, to imply that they had been endorsed by the president. Watkins was endorsed by U.S. Representative Roger Marshall from Kansas Congressional District 1.
Watkins won the primary with 26.5% of the vote, defeating six other candidates. His family's Super PAC had spent $710,010 supporting his candidacy, and $35,860 opposing Caryn Tyson, the Parscale-endorsed primary candidate who finished second.
In October 2018, the Associated Press published a story questioning a number of details of Watkins' claimed background, including a debunked assertion which he had made on his website that he had been praised by outfitter Guy Cotter for his leadership among climbers on Mount Everest after the Nepal earthquake. Cotter claimed that he had never made the statement, and the assertion was removed from Watkins's website after the story was published. A New Zealand Herald story indicated that Watkins was 600 meters above the South Base Camp when the latter was hit by a deadly landslide and avalanche.
Five weeks before the 2018 general election, the Kansas City Star reported that Watkins had claimed to have established a corporation when he had actually only consulted with the corporation long after it had been incorporated. Watkins' campaign described the accusations as "fake news", and Watkins himself called them "baseless opinions from people who don't know me".
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Steve Watkins
Steven Charles Watkins Jr. (born September 18, 1976) is an American politician and former military officer. He served as the U.S. representative for Kansas's 2nd congressional district from 2019 to 2021. He is a member of the Republican Party, and was succeeded by Jake LaTurner. He earned degrees from the United States Military Academy at West Point, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.), and Harvard.
Born on September 18, 1976, at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas, Watkins attended high school in Topeka, Kansas and left to attend the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, graduating in 1999.
Watkins is a graduate of the following military schools: Ranger, Airborne, Sapper, Air Assault, and Pathfinder. He was stationed at Fort Richardson in Alaska in 2000. He saw combat in 2004 in Khost Province and conducted combat patrols on the Afghanistan–Pakistan border, attaining the rank of captain. He began running dogs in Alaska in 2000, and competed in the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.[better source needed] He finished in 58th place in 2015, ninth from last, and almost four days behind the top three mushers. He did not finish the race in March 2018, having dropped out at Unalakleet, 261 miles (420 km) from the finish in Nome.
Watkins spent five years on active duty with the United States Army. After this, he began working as a defense contractor in Afghanistan, beginning in late 2004. In a 2015 Washington Post interview, he said he had suffered a traumatic brain injury in 2013, and had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder almost a decade prior. He told reporters his injury was a "tipping point" propelling him in the direction of "a more conventional life".
Watkins' father, a physician, set up a political action committee (PAC) to underwrite his son's primary campaign. It made two initial $64,000 advertising purchases during the primary. Local Republican Party leaders expressed concerns about Watkins' background. Kansas state Senator Steve Fitzgerald, a primary candidate, noted that Watkins had never voted in Kansas until a recent local election. In July, Donald Trump's 2020 campaign manager, Brad Parscale, stated that Watkins and a second candidate for the seat, Dennis Pyle, had put out campaign ads with Trump's photo on them, without authorization, to imply that they had been endorsed by the president. Watkins was endorsed by U.S. Representative Roger Marshall from Kansas Congressional District 1.
Watkins won the primary with 26.5% of the vote, defeating six other candidates. His family's Super PAC had spent $710,010 supporting his candidacy, and $35,860 opposing Caryn Tyson, the Parscale-endorsed primary candidate who finished second.
In October 2018, the Associated Press published a story questioning a number of details of Watkins' claimed background, including a debunked assertion which he had made on his website that he had been praised by outfitter Guy Cotter for his leadership among climbers on Mount Everest after the Nepal earthquake. Cotter claimed that he had never made the statement, and the assertion was removed from Watkins's website after the story was published. A New Zealand Herald story indicated that Watkins was 600 meters above the South Base Camp when the latter was hit by a deadly landslide and avalanche.
Five weeks before the 2018 general election, the Kansas City Star reported that Watkins had claimed to have established a corporation when he had actually only consulted with the corporation long after it had been incorporated. Watkins' campaign described the accusations as "fake news", and Watkins himself called them "baseless opinions from people who don't know me".
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