Rep.-elect Ronny Jackson (R-Texas-13)

Date of birth: May 4, 1967
Residence: Amarillo, Texas
Occupation: retired Navy doctor
Education: B.S., Texas A&M University; M.D., University of Texas Medical Branch
Family: wife, Jane; one daughter, two sons

Ronny Jackson won the seat being vacated by retiring Rep. Mac Thornberry (Texas), the top Republican on the House Armed Services Committee, in a district seen as among the reddest in the nation.

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

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.

Jackson retired from the military in 2019 and moved back to Texas to launch his congressional campaign.

During the campaign, he 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 President-elect Joe Biden’s mental acuity.

-Rebecca Kheel