MACON, Ga. — A Bibb County commissioner says he's joining the 2020 race for mayor.
Virgil Watkins says he'll file paperwork this week to raise funds for the race.
He's been an elected official for 12 years -- getting elected to the Macon City Council in 2007 and moving to the county commission when Macon and Bibb governments merged in 2014.
Watkins is a 2006 graduate of Georgia Southern and received an MBA from Wesleyan College.
He's made some headlines in 2019.
In February, he was charged with DUI in downtown Macon.
In April, he joined with another commission to propose reducing marijuana penalties in Bibb County.
And he's proposed a plan to turn a 2,000-square-foot building on Eisenhower Parkway into a "business incubator." That plan is now before the county planning and zoning board.
School board president Lester Miller and Bibb County commissioner Larry Schlesinger both announced last year that they were running.
The latest campaign finance reports, filed in February, showed that Miller had raised more than $100,000 and Schlesinger more than $55,000.
Two other candidates, Chatavia Ane'qua Callaway and Verbin Weaver, have also filed paperwork with the county board of elections to run for mayor, but so far neither has reported raising or spending any money.
The primary for the 2020 mayor's race is May 19 and a primary would be held July 21.
After six years as mayor of the City of Macon and two full terms as mayor of the consolidated Macon-Bibb, Robert Reichert can't run for another term.
