BOLTON

EAST GREENWICH — Rep. Robert A. Watson, R-Dist. 30, the House minority leader for the last decade, has announced he will run for a ninth House term this fall. And Robert B. Bolton, a member of the town Zoning Board of Review, says he will challenge Watson in a Republican primary.

Watson, 47, a lawyer with a practice in Providence, was first elected to the House in 1992. He previously served one term, 1989-90, in the Senate. A graduate of the University of Denver and Catholic University’s Columbus School of Law, he serves on the Commission on Judicial Tenure and Discipline.

Bolton, 59, has served on the zoning board since 2000. A graduate of Bryant University, he operates an Allstate Insurance Co. franchise in Warwick. He and his family have lived in East Greenwich since 1989; he is a former resident of Cranston, where he served on the City Council in 1979-80.

A longtime fundraiser for Meeting Street, Bolton has been active in local sports leagues and with the Boy Scouts.

Watson, whose district also includes part of West Greenwich, said yesterday, “I’m proud of my record. If he chooses to run … I will run a vigorous primary and election and address all opponents I have.”

“I am running because I love East Greenwich,” Bolton said yesterday. “I want it to be a thriving community. I’m dissatisfied with the present representation.”

“I have been involved for many years in the town,” he said. “I believe I can do a better job and I can get along with people on a bipartisan level.”

Among his concerns, Bolton said, is New England Institute of Technology’s plans to establish a campus on 200 acres at Division Road and South County Trail (Route 2). He said the campus would be a drain on the community’s resources.

This is not Bolton’s first bid for the House. In 1992, the year Watson won what was then the District 43 seat, he ran unsuccessfully in a Democratic primary for the seat.

The deadline for filing formal declarations of candidacy is June 25.

lsparks@projo.com