Exclusive: Rep. Ronny Jackson endorses GOP candidate in Virginia swing district

Republican Rep. Ronny Jackson of Texas has endorsed Derrick Anderson, a candidate for Congress in Virginia’s 7th District, for the 2024 election, the Daily Caller News Foundation has learned.

Anderson is a former U.S. Army special forces green beret running to succeed Democratic Rep. Abigail Spanberger of Virginia, who is running for governor in 2025, in a district rated by the Cook Partisan Voting Index (PVI) as D+1, making it highly competitive. Jackson, a retired U.S. Navy rear admiral who served as physician to the president in the Obama and Trump administrations, endorsed Anderson on Thursday.

“I’m asking Virginians to join me in supporting Derrick Anderson, a fellow military veteran. Derrick was raised in the heart of Virginia’s 7th District and deployed around the world protecting America as a Special Forces Green Beret. I know Derrick will fight for conservative values in Congress, which we deeply need. Vote Derrick Anderson for Virginia,” Jackson wrote.

As a Special Forces Green Beret with six deployments, I am ready to serve in another way: Representing you, the people of #VA07, in Congress.

This is the district that raised me and I vow to be your voice in Washington every single day.

Join me. https://t.co/x1ZtU5mvg6 pic.twitter.com/z7tw08xh9p

— Derrick Anderson (@DerrickforVA) September 18, 2023

Anderson is one of nine candidates in the primary election for the Republican nomination for Virginia’s 7th District, which will be held on June 18. Seven Democratic candidates are also running in the race, including retired U.S. Army Colonel Yevgeny “Eugene” Vindman, the brother of Alexander Vindman, who was a key witness during the 2019 impeachment inquiry into then-President Donald Trump.

Anderson appears to be the leading Republican candidate in the race, having raised approximately $460,000 and been previously endorsed by House Speaker Mike Johnson and House Republican Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik. He previously ran in the 2022 midterm election’s Republican primary but lost to Yesli Vega, who herself lost to Spanberger in the general election.

Virginia’s 7th District — a largely suburban constituency comprising Culpeper, Spotsylvania and Fredericksburg as well as U.S. Marine Corps Base Quantico — has been the site of high-profile political contests in the past. The seat was held by House Majority Leader Eric Cantor until 2014 when he was defeated in a primary by economics professor David Brat, a defeat that gained national attention.

Spanberger has been among the most centrist House Democrats and has criticized her party’s left wing in the past, Politico reported.

“Defund [the] police almost cost me my race because of an attack ad. Don’t say ‘socialism’ ever again,” she reportedly told the party on a conference call after the 2020 election.

A relatively high number of veterans are voters in the swing district, and Spanberger herself is a former Central Intelligence Agency officer. Anderson, who remains an officer in the Virginia Army National Guard, has touted his military background and career as an attorney.

Jackson, by contrast, represents among the most Republican-leaning districts in the country, with a PVI of R+26, per Cook.

“America needs more veterans in office and I’m looking forward to working with my fellow veterans in Congress,” Anderson told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “We have so much to do — secure the border, stop Bidenomics, and fix America’s standing in the world — the list goes on and on.”

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