Rep. Diane Watson declines to endorse a successor
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Rep. Diane Watson didn’t endorse Assembly Speaker Karen Bass -- or anybody else -- when she announced her retirement at a Los Angeles news conference Thursday morning.
Watson, a Democrat, said she would leave her congressional seat at the end of this term and wanted to look at all contenders before deciding whom to back. Bass, also a Los Angeles Democrat, is widely expected to run for the seat but has declined to say whether she would do so.
Watson said she was leaving office to spend “quality time” with her mother, who just turned 100 and recently broke her hip.
“I appreciate the trust … that you have placed in me,” Watson said, flanked by community leaders including L.A. County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, LAPD Assistant Chief Earl Paysinger, school board member Marguerite LaMotte and the Rev. Cecil L. “Chip” Murray.
The announcement capped a political career that began when she was the first black woman elected to the L.A. Unified School District and culminated with her election to the 33rd Congressional District. She was also the first black woman elected to the state Senate, in 1978.
[Updated at 5:26 p.m.: An earlier version of this post said Watson represented the 37th Congressional District.]
-- Jean Merl
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