Who is Susie Wiles? Political consultant to be Trump’s chief of staff

On By Littum

The Florida political consultant has helped other high-profile members of the Florida GOP, most notably Gov. Ron DeSantis and Sen. Rick Scott.

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On Thursday, President-elect Donald Trump announced that campaign manager Susie Wiles will become his White House chief of staff.

In a statement obtained by USA TODAY, Trump was grateful to Wiles after his victory over Vice President Kamala Harris on Election Day.

“Susie Wiles just helped me achieve one of the greatest political victories in American history and was an integral part of both my successful 2016 and 2020 campaigns,” Trump said in the statement. “Susie is tough, smart, innovative and is 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 hold the title of White House chief of staff.

The 66-year-old political consultant from Florida is a somewhat mysterious figure who is rarely seen front and center on the campaign trail or heard from in public.

“She hates the limelight,” John Delaney told USA TODAY earlier this year. Delaney is a longtime friend and employee of Wiles when he was the Republican mayor of Jacksonville, Florida.

Ahead of her high-profile position in Trump’s administration, here’s what you need to know about Wiles.

Who is Susie Wiles?

Wiles has been described as a major reason for Trump’s political comeback to the White House. In 2018, she helped another Republican win when she ran Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to his first term in 2018.

With Wiles on board in the final month of the campaign, DeSantis narrowly won the closest victory of any governor in Florida history.

DeSantis pushed Trump to fire Wiles from his 2020 campaign in Florida, which he did. This came after DeSantis blamed Wiles for leaking a now-controversial fundraising memo that detailed charges to lobbyists for, among other things, golfing with the governor.

A famous upbringing and experience in politics

Wiles is the daughter of longtime football broadcaster Pat Summerall, who worked with football royalty such as John Madden.

“Think about this: Her father sat between John Madden and Howard Cosell, two of the greatest personalities, pain in the a–, right?” a Trump campaign official told USA TODAY earlier this year. “Really hard stuff, and he was the calming center. And it’s genetic. She has it.”

Her early career in politics included work for New York Representative Jack Kemp and in both 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 uber-, uber-conservative at all,” Delaney said in an interview with USA TODAY earlier this year. “You would really get hit more by moderate than anything else. … She would be left on the environment, left on gay rights.”

Wiles helped with several Republican campaigns in Florida

Trump and DeSantis aren’t the only two high-profile Florida Republicans Wiles has had success helping. In 2010, Wiles helped the campaign of Senator Rick Scott, who won re-election on Tuesday.

In that election, Scott was an unknown entity in Florida politics, but with Wiles’ help, he was able to ride the tea party wave of that year’s midterm elections. Riding a wave of right-wing populism, he was able to defeat his GOP opponent in the primaries and narrowly win the general election.

“Most Republicans were told if they worked on my campaign in the primary, they would never work in Republican politics, so I will be forever grateful that someone of Susie’s reputation came to work for me,” Scott said, and adding that Wiles is “really smart, she’s a hard worker, she’s a team player, I think she gives really good advice.”

Starring: David Jackson and Zac Anderson, USA TODAY

Fernando Cervantes Jr. is a trendy news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach him at [email protected] and follow him at X @fern_cerv_.