President-elect Donald Trump announced Thursday that Susie Wiles, his senior campaign adviser, will serve as White House chief of staff.
In a statement obtained by USA TODAY, Trump was grateful to Wales after his victory over Vice President Kamala Harris on Election Day.
“Susie Wales helped me achieve one of the greatest political victories in American history and was an integral part of my successful campaigns in 2016 and 2020,” Trump said in the statement. “Susie is strong, smart, innovative, and universally admired and respected. Susie will continue to work tirelessly to make America great again.”
As Trump’s de facto campaign manager, Wiles will make history by becoming the first woman to serve as White House chief of staff.
The 66-year-old Florida political consultant is a somewhat shadowy figure, rarely seen front and center on the campaign trail or heard from in public.
Register to have your vote: Text the USA TODAY Elections Team.
“She hates the spotlight,” John Delaney told USA TODAY earlier this year. Delaney is a longtime friend and hired Wells when he was the GOP mayor of Jacksonville, Florida.
Ahead of her senior position in the Trump administration, here’s what to know about Wells.
Who is Susie Wells?
Wells has been touted as a big reason for Trump’s political return to the White House. In 2018, she helped another Republican win when she led Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to his first term in 2018.
With Wells on board for the final month of the campaign, DeSantis narrowly achieved the closest victory of any governor in Florida history.
DeSantis pressured Trump to remove Wiles from his 2020 campaign in Florida, which he did. This came after DeSantis blamed Wells for leaking a now-controversial fundraising memo, which details charging lobbyists fees for, among other things, playing golf with the governor.
Famous education and experience in politics
Wells is the daughter of longtime soccer broadcaster Pat Summerall, who has worked alongside soccer royalty like John Madden.
“Think about this: Her father was sitting between John Madden and Howard Cosell, two of the biggest guys, and they had pains in the–, right?” A Trump campaign official told USA TODAY earlier this year. “It’s really hard, and it was like a calming center. It’s genetic. She has that.”
Her early career in politics included working for New York Rep. Jack Kemp and both in the Reagan campaign and administration. She made a name for herself in Florida in 1995, helping Delaney become the first Republican mayor of Jacksonville since the Reconstruction era.
“She’s a Republican, but she’s not conservative at all,” Delaney said in an interview with USA TODAY earlier this year. “You’re actually going to be more shocked by Goldilocks than anything else. … You’re going to be left out on the environment, you’re going to be left out on gay rights.”
Wells assisted in several Republican campaigns in Florida
Trump and DeSantis aren’t the only prominent Florida Republicans Wells has succeeded in helping. In 2010, Wells helped the campaign of Sen. Rick Scott, who won re-election on Tuesday.
In that election, Scott was an unknown entity in Florida politics, but with Wells’ help, he was able to capitalize on the Tea Party wave in that year’s midterm elections. Riding a wave of right-wing populism, he managed to defeat his GOP opponent in the primary and win the general election by a narrow margin.
“Most Republicans were told that if they worked on my campaign in the primaries, they would never work in Republican politics, so I will be forever grateful to someone with Susie’s reputation who came to work with me,” Scott said, adding that Wells is “really smart, she works hard, “She’s a team player, and I think she gives really good advice.”
Contributing: David Jackson and Zach Anderson, USA TODAY
Fernando Cervantes Jr. is a hotshot news correspondent for USA TODAY. Contact him at Fernando.cervantes@gannett.com and follow him at X @fern_cerv_.
