New Hampshire first congressional district Republican candidate Matt Mowers on Thursday praised Vice President Mike Pence’s decision to nominate Ambassador Debbie Birx as the White House coronavirus response coordinator.

Mowers, a former White House staffer, praised Birx as a leader on health initiatives in a statement on Thursday, saying:

I served as Chief of Staff to Ambassador Birx and I have the utmost confidence that she will ensure America is prepared to confront the Coronavirus outbreak. Ambassador Birx’s passion and commitment to ensuring our nation’s health and safety are second to none. She has served our nation ably in the Army, the CDC and as Ambassador leading America’s Global HIV program. President Trump and Vice President Pence have made an extraordinary choice, and as an American, I feel safe with them and Ambassador Birx at the helm.

Mowers served as a staffer in the Donald trump State Department and has had experience in combatting diseases across such as HIV and AIDS.

“We need Congress to work with the President by providing the necessary resources to fight this disease and to support common-sense ideas like restricting travel from mainland China, the way I have,” the New Hampshire conservative said.

Mowers hopes to unseat Rep. Chris Pappas (D-NH) in the 2020 congressional elections.

Pappas represents one of the 31 congressional districts that Trump won during the 2016 presidential election, and that Democrats flipped during the 2018 midterm elections. Republicans only need to retake a net 18 seats to regain the House majority.

Mowers has criticized Pappas as a “partisan Pelosi puppet” who has yet to deliver wins for the first New Hampshire congressional district.

Mowers said that, if elected to Congress, he would fight to secure America’s southern border. The New Hampshire Republican said that the country’s insecure border has lead to the opioid crisis in the Granite State.

He said, “First and foremost is to ensure the security of our country, and in New Hampshire that takes on another meaning as well, which is to stop the influx of illegal drugs, which has caused the opioid crisis in our state.