As expected, Donald Trump announced plans on Wednesday afternoon to nominate White House health aide Dr. Heidi Overton as the next head of the Food and Drug Administration. The president wrote by way of his social media platform:

Dr. Heidi has been a ROCKSTAR in my Administration, where she has worked directly with Secretary Kennedy, Dr. Oz, and team, to deliver on the MOST TRANSFORMATIVE Health Agenda in History. She is known to take on the HARDEST issues, and bring me solutions that work best for the Country. Heidi is “ALWAYS RIGHT,” Secretary Kennedy recently said in the Oval Office! We need her leadership at the FDA now to ensure that the U.S. remains the WORLD LEADER for Scientific Discovery and CURES.

He added that he expects Overton to help deliver “even more MAHA WINS!”

While the news was widely expected, it also took a while: The FDA leadership post has been vacant for months. As for why, The Washington Post reported, “The administration struggled to fill the open role, with some outside candidates turning it down amid fears of political interference over FDA decisions.”

In other words, Overton wasn’t necessarily the first choice, but she received the nomination, in part because she was willing to work within the hyperpoliticized climate, and in part because the White House was satisfied that she’ll go along with Trump’s plans.

If confirmed, Overton will succeed Marty Makary, who drew the ire of conservative activists over the availability of mifepristone and clashed with the president over FDA approval of, all things, fruit-flavored vapes.

Overton, however, appears far more likely to curry favor with the Republican Party’s base. For one thing, the White House health aide has been part of Trump’s push for fewer childhood vaccines, and when the president signed his highly controversial executive order on vaccines last week, it was Overton who stood at his side, along with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

For another, as The New York Times reported, Overton, a former official at a pro-Trump think tank called the America First Policy Institute, “has also written articles that denounced abortion as ‘corrosive’ to women and called for more controls over the prescribing of abortion pills.”

With this in mind, the reaction to the president’s announcement has been less than supportive in Democratic circles. Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, for example, said in a statement, “Heidi Overton is a far-right, anti-abortion extremist who has no business leading the FDA. The American people deserve someone who will put science and facts FIRST, not another Trump sycophant who will make it their mission to attack medication abortion. I will vote NO.”

If Murray’s GOP colleagues come to a different conclusion, Overton will take over an FDA that has confronted crisis conditions during Trump’s second term, setting the stage for a lively confirmation hearing. Watch this space.

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