Trump Nominates White House Aide Heidi Overton to Run the FDA Nine Days After She Helped Write the Childhood Vaccine Order — and the Republican Chairman of the Senate Health Committee Calls That "Almost Disqualifying"
On August 19, 2026, President Trump announced on Truth Social that he was nominating Dr. Heidi Overton — a physician and deputy director of the White House Domestic Policy Council — as commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, filling the vacancy left when Marty Makary was forced out in May after 13 months. Trump called her a "ROCKSTAR" and said she would work with HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Dr. Mehmet Oz to deliver "faster Cures, increased American Innovation, major Clinical Trial Reforms, lower Drug Prices, and even more MAHA wins." Kennedy said Overton brings "exceptional judgment, professionalism, discipline." Speaker Mike Johnson called her "a woman of deep faith, an accomplished physician and a champion of the America First agenda." The trouble came from her own party's health chairman. Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), the physician who chairs the Senate HELP Committee and who had already called Trump's August 10 childhood vaccine executive order "a stupid thing to do," said he had "strong concerns" about Overton — citing both her lack of managerial experience and her "active role in last week's nonsensical vaccine executive order," which he said "alone is almost disqualifying." Democrats attacked her record on abortion. Overton has written that abortion is "corrosive" to women and, in a 2023 brief, called the prescribing and mailing of abortion pills across state lines "Skype abortions" and urged the federal government to end the practice. Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), a HELP Committee member, called her "a far-right, anti-abortion extremist who has no business leading the FDA" and said she would vote no. With a 53-seat majority, Senate Republicans can lose only three votes. Overton's confirmation runs through Cassidy's committee.
“We're going to be in a very challenging position in a very rural state like Alaska if in fact the move to require in-person dispensing of the medication as opposed to telehealth appointments is the direction.”