Watson leaving Senate to take dean post at UH
AUSTIN — Democratic Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, a fixture in the Senate for more than a decade, announced Tuesday he is vacating his post in April to take on a new endeavor as dean of the University of Houston Hobby School of Public Affairs.
The former Austin mayor and lawyer, known as a champion of open government and transparency, told Gov. Greg Abbott in a resignation letter that his last day as a senator will be April 30. He first was elected to the Senate in 2006.
Watson’s departure marks the second major Democratic resignation in the past year. In September, Senate Minority Leader José Rodríguez of El Paso announced he won’t seek reelection.
Watson said in a statement Tuesday that the job at the Hobby School of Public Affairs is an “extraordinary opportunity.”
“This is a chance to build a world-class public affairs and policy school essentially from the ground up,” Watson said in a statement. “It is transformative work at a creative and ambitious university, located in one of the country’s largest and most diverse cities.”
Watson’s salary at the university will be $375,000 a year, a Hobby School of Public Affairs spokeswoman said.
Abbott soon will have to schedule a special election for the remainder of Watson’s four-year term, which ends in 2022. Watson’s District 14, which mostly lies in Austin, leans Democratic.
While Watson said only such a unique opportunity could have springboarded a decision to leave his longtime home of Austin, he was also highly complimentary of his new city.
“It is humbling to get to help build and shape such a transformative institution,” Watson said. “And it is thrilling to get to do it in Houston, with its far-reaching role in health care, energy, education, culture and other areas that are central to life in Texas and beyond. The city provides a tremendous point of leverage for the school’s vision — and the urgency to realize it.”