Donors to Dr. Jackson’s campaign now include Ronald S. Lauder, the cosmetics billionaire and one of Mr. Trump’s oldest acquaintances, who gave Dr. Jackson $ 2,800 for the second round and another $ 2,800 for his general election campaign, according to campaign financial reports. Others who donated to Dr. Jackson’s campaign included former West Wing colleagues of his like Sarah Huckabee Sanders, a former White House press secretary; Hope Hicks, Senior Advisor to the President; Raj Shah, former White House spokesman; and Mr. Clark.
Trump’s operatives also helped Dr. Jackson hire Jeremy Sheftel, an experienced operative in the field based in Florida, to carry out the campaign. And they worked with the White House to make sure Trump backed Dr. Jackson, including by inviting him aboard Air Force One when the president visited Dallas last June. And Dr. Jackson benefited from the runoff elections being delayed by a month due to the coronavirus, giving him more time to catch up.
However, his opponent, Mr. Winegarner, tried to lessen Dr. Jackson’s interest in the district, to which he had recently returned. He released an ad saying to voters, “We are Ronny’s backup plan,” referring to his frustrated hopes of becoming secretary of veterans affairs.
Dr. Jackson’s advisers, in turn, framed his campaign as another example of a Trump-backed candidate seeking to drain the swamp, representing Winegarner, who used to work for Thornberry, as part of a broken system in which a lobbyist and the former Capitol Hill staff member becomes the immediate favorite to take on the job of his former boss.
Playing the role of marauding intruder, and aided by the political council of Mr. Clark and Mr. Stepien, Dr. Jackson also leaned toward national political controversies. Despite serving as a physician to President Barack Obama before Trump took office, he backed a conspiracy theory promoted by Trump that his predecessor had spied on his campaign, an accusation made by Trump without offering supporting evidence.
“President Obama has armed the highest levels of our government to spy on President Trump. All Deep State traitors deserve to be brought to justice for their heinous actions, “Dr. Jackson tweeted in May, drawing a reprimand from former Obama administration officials who called his statement” shameful “and an example of his “lie for Trump” in To win a congressional primary.