Senator Cecil Staton, a Republican from Macon, was first elected to the Senate in 2004 to represent the 18th Senatorial District which includes portions of Bibb, Crawford, Houston, Jones and Monroe counties. He was re-elected in 2006, 2008, and 2010 without opposition.
Having previously held the position of vice-chairman of the Senate Republican Caucus, he currently serves as Majority Whip. Staton is a member of the Committee on Assignments and the Senate Appropriations Committee, sitting on three sub-committees, and is Chairman of the sub-committee on Higher Education. Additionally, he serves on the Rules, Finance, Transportation, and Banking and Financial Institutions committees.
A native of Greenville, South Carolina, Sen. Staton received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Furman University and a doctor of philosophy degree from the University of Oxford in England. Moving to Georgia in 1989, for more than 15 years he served as a college professor and administrator serving for more than eleven years as a faculty member, university press publisher, and associate provost at Mercer University. He currently is a publisher and broadcaster in Macon and Warner Robins.
Sen. Staton and his wife Catherine have two sons, Trey and William. They are members of the Highland Hills Baptist Church in Macon. In 2000, he received the Richard Furman Award from Furman University. He has also been recognized as the Rural 
Healthcare Legislator of the Year in 2008, and has won recognition for his work on trauma and other health care related issues
including the Georgia Hospital Association Legislator of the Year award in 2010. He is also responsible for most of the new election laws in Georgia in recent years including Georgia’s requirement for photo identification for voting (2005), and in 2009 a requirement that proof of citizenship accompany voter registration applications.
Sen. Staton’s legislative office is located in Suite 421A of the Legislative Office Building, where he can be reached at 404.656.5039. His email address is cecil.staton@senate.ga.gov.