He received support from Ruth Davidson, Murdo Fraser, Adam Tomkins, Liz Smith, Annie Wells and Jamie Greene. This gave Carlaw the position of favourite over his opponent Michelle Ballantyne. He centred his campaign around how he could beat Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP in the next Scottish Parliament election and the local elections in 2022. He also promised to make the Scottish Conservatives more for the middle and working classes and continue to maintain the Scottish Conservatives as the main party of the Union. Carlaw won the election with 4,917 votes in his favour, as opposed to 1,581 for Ballantyne. He promised to provide a "clear, focused and ambitious alternative to the SNP". In June 2020, the Scottish Greens accused Carlaw of claiming an "outright falsehood" in a debate over Holyrood's reopening. After facing a revolt from furious party figures, Jackson Carlaw dismissed his support for under-fire Downing Street adviser Dominic Cummings. He initially supported the position of Boris Johnson to stick by the political adviser but caved to criticism from furious leaders of the Scottish party. Carlaw lives in Giffnock. He is married and has two sons.