Steven Charles Watkins Jr. (born September 18, 1976) is an American politician and former military officer. He served as the U.S. representative for Kansas's from 2019 to 2021. He is a member of the Republican Party, and was succeeded by Jake LaTurner. He earned degrees from the United States Military Academy at West Point, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.), and Harvard. Career Born on September 18, 1976 at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas, Watkins attended high school in Topeka, Kansas and left to attend the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, graduating in 1999. Watkins is a graduate of the following military schools: Ranger, Airborne, Sapper, Air Assault, and Pathfinder. He was stationed at Fort Richardson in Alaska in 2000. He saw combat in 2004 in Khost Province and conducted combat patrols on the Afghanistan–Pakistan border, attaining the rank of captain. He began running dogs in Alaska in 2000, and competed in the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. He finished in 58th place in 2015, ninth from last, and almost four days behind the top three mushers. He did not finish the race in March 2018, having dropped out at Unalakleet, from the finish in Nome. Watkins spent five years on active duty with the United States Army. After this, he began working as a defense contractor in Afghanistan, beginning in late 2004. In a 2015 Washington Post interview, he said he had suffered a traumatic brain injury in 2013, and had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder almost a decade prior. He told reporters his injury was a "tipping point" propelling him in the direction of "a more conventional life". U.S. House of Representatives Elections 2018 Watkins' father, a physician, set up a political action committee (PAC) to underwrite his son's primary campaign. It made two initial $64,000 advertising purchases during the primary. Local Republican Party leaders expressed concerns about Watkins' background. Kansas state Senator Steve Fitzgerald, a primary candidate, noted that Watkins had never voted in Kansas until a recent local election. In July, Donald Trump's 2020 campaign manager, Brad Parscale, stated that Watkins and a second candidate for the seat, Dennis Pyle, had put out campaign ads with Trump's photo on them, without authorization, to imply that they had been endorsed by the president. Watkins was endorsed by U.S. Representative Roger Marshall from Kansas Congressional District 1. Watkins won the primary with 26.5%