The White House is considering Heidi Overton, Buddy Carter and Jeff Vacirca for the next commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration. The search comes after Marty Makary resigned in April, leaving President Donald Trump without a formal nomination for the post.
Buddy Carter and Carter’s Pharmacy
Buddy Carter brings a different profile to the list. He is a licensed pharmacist, previously owned Carter’s Pharmacy for more than three decades, and his pharmacy license is currently active according to the Georgia Department of Community Health.
He is also leaving Congress at the end of the year. That adds a timing issue to a possible FDA pick, because any move to the commissioner’s office would come as he exits one federal job and potentially steps into another with nationwide oversight of drugs and products.
Heidi Overton in the mix
Heidi Overton remains one of the names under consideration alongside Jeff Vacirca, an oncologist. The White House has been weighing multiple candidates for more than a month, according to the search described in the available facts, and no formal nomination has been announced.
Kush Desai said, "President Trump will continue to nominate the best and brightest minds to deliver on his historic MAHA agenda." He also said, "Discussion about potential nominations, however, should be regarded as speculation unless announced by President Trump himself."
Trump and the Georgia race
Carter’s inclusion is notable because he lost his May GOP primary bid for Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff’s seat. President Donald Trump did not endorse him in the Republican Senate primary, where Carter came in third and Mike Collins and Derek Dooley advanced to one runoff before Collins won the nomination.
Even so, Carter has been a consistent defender of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. He has said routine childhood vaccines are safe and effective, backed Kennedy’s shifts in federal vaccine guidance, and stressed his opposition to government vaccine requirements. He also defended the administration’s firing of Susan Monarez, saying in a post on X that she took "anti-administration" positions and oversaw an agency that had been "leveraged as a force for liberal ideology."
The open question now is whether President Donald Trump will pick any of the three names, including Heidi Overton. Until he does, the FDA remains without a new commissioner after Makary’s April resignation, and the decision sits with the White House.
