Ex-Trump White House doctor Ronny Jackson wins Texas House race

Ronny Jackson, President Trump’s former White House doctor, is projected to win his race to represent Texas’s 13th Congressional District, according to calls by NBC News and CNN. 

Jackson is projected to defeat Democratic nominee Gus Trujillo and Libertarian candidate Jack Westbrook to win the seat being vacated by retiring Rep. Mac Thornberry (Texas), the top Republican on the House Armed Services Committee.

With the district considered among the reddest in the nation, Jackson was seen as a lock to win the race after defeating Josh Winegarner, who had earned GOP establishment endorsements, in the party’s primary runoff in July.

Jackson, who retired from the Navy as a rear admiral in 2019, was first appointed as a White House physician in the George W. Bush administration and also served as former President Obama’s physician. He shot to national prominence in 2018 when he held a press conference giving Trump a glowing medical evaluation.

Trump nominated Jackson to be his second Veterans Affairs secretary, but Jackson withdrew from consideration after allegations surfaced that he drank on the job, overprescribed medications and created a hostile work environment. A Pentagon inspector general investigation into the allegations has not yet been released.

During his congressional campaign, Jackson aligned himself closely with Trump, echoing the president’s unfounded accusation that Obama spied on the Trump campaign in 2016, opposing requirements for Americans to wear masks proven to slow the spread of the coronavirus and spreading baseless allegations about Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s mental acuity.