Paid for and authorized by Abbitt for Delegate
Delegate Watkins Abbitt
Serving Virginia's 59th District
Biography
Avid Outdoorsman When not in his office at Appomattox, or in Richmond tending to General Assembly business, or in his district visiting with constituents, you’re likely to find Watkins Abbitt outdoors, doing anything from hunting, fishing or canoeing to frying fish or cooking sorghum for a community benefit. An avid outdoorsman, Abbitt has repeatedly, over the years, been recognized for his contributions to protecting Virginia’s natural heritage. He has received awards ranging from the Virginia Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts’ “Legislator of the Year,” to “Legislative Conservationist of the Year” recognition from the Virginia Wildlife Federation. Abbitt owns the cabin used by Mt. Hope Hunt Club, where legendary hearty breakfasts are prepared during the chill, still, pre-dawn hours of deerhunting season. “My father and four other people started the club in 1931, when each person pitched in a dollar and bought a hunting dog,” Abbitt says with a grin. Today, the clubhouse is a weatherworn but comfortable gathering place where friends discuss everything from the latest political gossip to the previous day’s deer drive. The hunt club is a spot where people can congregate as much to talk and socialize as to hunt. It’s a rural tradition —the kind that’s so much a part of Abbitt’s way of life because the central component of the tradition is people. “When you get right down to it, elected office is, simply, all about people,” Abbitt concludes. “It’s about helping people and the community, and that’s something I really enjoy.”
"When You Get Right Down To It, Elected Office Is Simply All About People and what the People want."
Watkins Abbitt, Jr. Speaks Out in Richmond for Rural Virginia & Family Values
An Appomattox Native, Through and Through Abbitt, age 63, is a native of Appomattox County and grew up near where he and his wife, Madeline, currently reside, just outside the town of Appomattox on a rolling, scenic farm called Rose Bower. The farm is only a couple of miles from his family’s homeplace at the tiny, rustic crossroads community of Vera, where his late grandfather, George Abbitt, operated a country store for 40 years.
Cooperative
living
Watkins is marginally involved in agriculture through his farm, which he leases and grows corn, vegetables & sorghum. His main avocation, however, is as small-town businessman. He owns an insurance agency, Conner-Abbitt Insurance, and a land-sales company, Abbitt Realty, both located in the town of Appomattox. Because of this, Watkins understands the challenges facing residents of small towns and rural areas across the Commonwealth.
“On a state level, you can actually make a difference — you can really help people — as soon as you’re elected,” notes Abbitt. “And this is a very rewarding thing. It gives you the opportunity to return something to your community.” This is a point Abbitt especially tries to make with young people, when talking about the reasons a person should get involved in any kind of community service. “Any time I talk to young people about holding elected office or about public service in general, I try to let them know that the service part of the job is what is really rewarding – you hear this idea a lot, but it really is true. The ‘giving back’ is the part that’s most rewarding about elected office.”
Watkins M. Abbitt, Jr.,
understands full well the challenges
facing rural Virginia. As a native and
lifelong resident of Appomattox County,
those challenges are his own.
While he acknowledges that tending to the details of lawmaking is important, Abbitt sees his role more as that of servant, rather than legislation-crafting politician. “We do a lot of constituent service. I think this job is more about being an ombudsman for the people you represent — a link between them and the state bureaucracy — than it is about the 45 or 60 days the General Assembly is in session. “For example, if somebody’s having a problem with a state agency, you can help them cut through the red tape to solve the problem — you can try to make some sense out of the bureaucracy for that person in your community.” Abbitt says. “Whether it’s been by working to help electric cooperatives in their mission of service to their members, or boosting funding for education in rural areas, I’ve tried to be an advocate for rural Virginia. This is something that I take great pride in.”
Abbitt feels his job in Richmond is more
about being a link between his constituants and the state bureaucracy than it is about the 45 or 60 days the General Assembly is in session.
