Rep. Watts Says He Will Seek Reelection

The only black Republican in Congress announced Monday that he will run for reelection this year rather than leave the House at the end of this session, saving Republicans from a scramble to try to replace him as chairman of the House GOP Conference.

Ending months of suspense over rumors that he was about to leave the House, Rep. J.C. Watts Jr. (R-Okla.) told a news conference that he has decided to run again, even though he supported a GOP plan in 1994 to limit congressional terms to six years.

If Watts had chosen not to run for reelection, it would have been a setback for House Republicans, who elected him to the prestigious caucus post in 1998, partly to appease moderates and send a signal that the party was trying to reach out more to African Americans.

The former University of Oklahoma football player, 42, has been the most visible black member of Congress during his two years as conference chairman. The high-profile job is the fourth-ranking post in the House GOP leadership and involves frequent television appearances.

Watts had been dogged by speculation that he would decline to run this year, both because of his frustrations in the chairman’s job and because he signed a pledge in 1994 to support the term-limits plank in the GOP’s contract with America campaign manifesto.

Rep. Tillie K. Fowler (R-Fla.), who has served as vice chairman of the House Republican Conference under Watts, announced a month ago that she would not run for reelection because it would violate her pledge to voters in the 1994 campaign.

Although Watts was reported to have told some groups of voters privately during the 1994 campaign that he would not stay in Congress longer than six years, he insisted on Monday that he never had promised more than to support the term-limits plan if it came up for a vote.

“All that pledge says is that I will vote to support term-limits, it doesn’t say that I will step down,” he said, speaking from Norman, Okla., during a conference call with reporters.

Watts also said that he plans to seek a second two-year term as conference chairman if Republicans maintain control of the House in the November elections.

John Feehery, chief spokesman for House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), said after Watts’ announcement that the speaker is “delighted.” Feehery described the Oklahoma lawmaker as “a valuable addition” to the Republican leadership.

Virtually all Republican candidates who were elected to the House in 1994 supported the contract with America, which contained the term-limits proposal but only a handful have decided, as Fowler did, that they should not seek reelection this fall.

In July, Watts threatened to resign as conference chairman over what he regarded as an attempt by Majority Whip Tom DeLay (R-Texas) to poach on his turf as the GOP’s chief promotion manager.

DeLay’s actions--distributing talking points to Republicans for use on the stump during the August recess--followed reports of private grumbling by some House leaders that Watts had not been aggressive enough in promoting the party’s achievements to voters.

The dispute was papered over, however, after Hastert met privately with Watts to assure him that the leadership still had confidence in him. Strategists said that Hastert also made several efforts in the last month to persuade Watts to run again.

Both Watts and several Republican strategists suggested that part of his uncertainty over whether to run for reelection involved the strain that his serving in Congress has put on his family life.

“This business is hard on families,” the congressman said. “I don’t want to do this for the rest of my life. There are other things I want to do and can do. You have to be careful about getting on this treadmill.”

The elevation of Watts and Fowler to head the House GOP Conference--in November 1998, just as Republicans were electing new leaders after the resignation of then-Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.)--was viewed as a new effort to broaden the party’s appeal to women and blacks.