Avery Watson

    

Avery Watson
Picture of Avery in 2014
Speaker of the San Francisco Provincial Assembly
Incumbent
Assumed office August 18, 2015
Preceded by	Jacob Rendon
Leader of the San Francisco Social Democratic Committee
Incumbent
Assumed office June 8, 2014
Preceded by	Mathew Jackson
Assembly Member for the 27th district
Incumbent
Assumed office August 12, 2015
Preceded by	Anthony Steinberg
Personal details
Born	(1972-03-18) March 18, 1972 San Raphael, San Francisco, Sierra
Political party	Social Democrat
Occupation	Radio host, politician, activist
Religion	Deism

Avery Watson (born March 18, 1972) is a Sierran political activist, radio host and political currently serving as the Speaker of the San Francisco Provincial Assembly since 2015 and is the current leader of the Social Democratic Committee since 2014. A member of the Social Democratic Party, Watson has been a proponent of social democracy, liberal socialism and progressivism since her time in radio and is well known activist from the province of San Francisco, a province of which she's defended from criticism from various conservative pundits and figures.

Before entering into politics, Watson was a political activist and a radio host who served as the main host of the Watson Show on the Bay Area Voice, a local talk radio show in San Francisco. She began her radio career in 2001 and became the main host in 2007 and served as one of its primary hosts up until 2016 when she was elected into the Provincial Assembly for the 27th Assembly District. After the new assembly was sworn in, she ran for the position of Speaker and won the position being sworn in on August 18, 2016. She's also a member of the Leadership Committee of the Progressive Coalition alongside Democratic-Republican Governor Terry Scott and Assembly Majority Leader Michael J. Kruger.

Political career

Elections

The first election Watson participated in was in 2014 when the Social Democratic Committee held a leadership election. The election was held after Jacob Rendon had called for one in response to internal pressure to hold one as criticism had been mounting over accusations of a lack of commitment to traditional social democracy and Rendon held it to defend his position. Ultimately Watson was his main opponent and she won winning around 51.8% of the total vote. Rendon conceded and handed over the position as leader to Watson without any resistance.

The next election was in 2015 when Watson ran to represent the 27th district for the Provincial Assembly. Her opponent was Christian Democrat Anthony Steinberg who had held the position since 2005. Watson ran on a liberal socialist, pro-working class platform and accused Steinberg of pandering to what she called a "vaguely defined niche group". She won the election winning 55% of the vote and was sworn in following the formation of the 68th Provincial Assembly of San Francisco. Her victory caught attention in San Franciscan media and some provincial newspapers in nearby provinces due to her winning a seat against a two time incumbent. Her victory was used by many analysts to show the strength of the province's left-wing sociopolitical and cultural nature.

Committee Assignments

• Assembly Committee on Health and Human Services
  • Subcommittee on Urban Health Services
  • Subcommittee on Urban and Coastal Sanitation
• Assembly Committee on Education
  • Subcommittee of Public Education
  • Subcommittee on Educational Inspection

See also

• Bay Area Voice