Diane Watson

Diane Watson represented California's 33rd Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2003-2011.

Watson was born in Los Angeles on November 12, 1933. She received her Bachelor of Arts in education from UCLA in 1956, an M.S. in school psychology from California State University, Los Angeles in 1967, and a Ph.D. in educational administration from the Claremont Graduate School in 1987.

Before her political career, Watson worked as an teacher, administer and school psychologist for the Los Angeles Unified School District from 1958-1976. She was a lecturer at California State University from 1969-1971 and health occupation specialist for the Bureau of Industrial Education at the California Department of Education from 1971-1973. From 1975-1978, she served on the Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education.

Watson was a member of the California state Senate from 1978-1998. She was the United States ambassador to the Federated States of Micronesia from 1999-2000. In 2003, she was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in a special election to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Rep. Julian Dixon, and was re-elected four times before retiring in 2011.

For information on Watson's policy subject areas, committee appointments and sponsored/co-sponsored legislation during her time in the U.S. House of Representatives, please visit her profile on https://www.congress.gov.

Sources:

Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (n.d.) Watson, Diane Edith (1933-). Retrieved on April 30, 2020, from https://bioguideretro.congress.gov/Home/MemberDetails?memIndex=w000794.

Vote Smart (n.d.) Diane Watson's Biography. Retrieved on April 30, 2020, from https://justfacts.votesmart.org/candidate/biography/3587/diane-watson.