President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday named his White House chief of staff: Susie Wiles, his de facto campaign manager and one of the most powerful political forces in Florida you may not have heard of.
“Susie Wiles just helped me achieve one of the greatest political victories in American history and was an integral part of my successful 2016 and 2020 campaigns,” Trump said in a statement. “Susie is tough, smart, innovative and universally admired and respected. Susie will continue to work tirelessly to Make America Great Again.”
Susan Summerall Wiles has a political history in Jacksonville
Wiles, 67, will be the first woman to hold the title of White House chief of staff in American history. But who is the button-down grandmother who helped put Trump back in power?
Wiles is a private person who rarely comes to the fore during campaigns or in interviews. She prefers to keep campaigns quietly organized and on track, while serving as the powerhouse behind several major Florida politicians and becoming essential to Trump’s triumphant comeback.
Trump publicly thanked her and fellow campaign manager Chris LaCivita during his victory speech Wednesday as she stood at the back of the stage.
“Susie likes to stay in the back, I can tell you that,” Trump said. “We call her the Ice Girl.”
Here’s what you need to know.
Who is Susie Wiles? Donald Trump’s chief of staff
Born in New Jersey, Wiles was one of three children of legendary sportscaster and former NFL kicker Pat Summerall. Her early career in politics included working for New York Rep. Jack Kemp, a football teammate of her famous father, and on the campaigns of former President Ronald Reagan.
Wiles moved to Jacksonville with her husband Lenny Wiles, also a Republican political consultant, where she worked as a consultant and in government before taking more than a decade off to raise her two daughters. They divorced in 2017.
In 1995, Wiles helped John Delaney become the first Republican mayor of Jacksonville since shortly after the Civil War. She later served as Delaney’s chief of staff.
Wiles started a consulting firm in Ponte Vedre Beach with former Jacksonville Jaguars player Tony Boselli while working for former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman Jr.’s presidential campaign. She also led the Tallahassee-based lobbying firm Ballard Partners until 2019.
“She’s a Republican, but not ultra-conservative at all,” Delaney said in an interview with USA TODAY earlier this year. ‘Actually, you would be more affected by moderation than anything else. … She would lag behind on the environment, and on gay rights.”
Susie Wiles helped Rick Scott, Ron DeSantis and Donald Trump rise to power
Senator Rick Scott was an unknown former hospital company executive who had turned the entire Florida GOP establishment against him when Wiles joined his campaign and helped him tap into the Tea Party wave to narrowly win the race for governor.
“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 that someone with Susie’s reputation came to work for me,” said Scott, adding that Wiles “is very smart. she’s a hard worker, she’s a team player, I think she gives really good advice.”
Wiles worked for Trump’s campaign in Florida in 2016 and was reportedly sent by Trump to help Ron DeSantis’ floundering gubernatorial campaign. She joined DeSantis’ team and helped him deliver the biggest victory of any governor in Florida history.
She stayed on to help with the transition, but he blamed her after a fundraising memo was leaked detailing plans to raise big money by having lobbyists pay for golf and other activities with the governor and, insiders say, tried ‘to ruin her life’. The new governor pressured Trump to fire her from leading his 2020 campaign in Florida.
“He definitely tried to make me some kind of pariah, and I was never able to get an appointment with him or anything like that after it happened to address it head-on,” Wiles said.
Susie Wiles: Meet the soft-spoken Florida woman quietly running the Trump campaign
Wiles grew in power under Trump
Although initially abandoned, Trump’s campaign returned Wiles to the 2020 race over DeSantis’ objections and finished Florida by more than 3 percentage points, tripling his margin of victory from 2016 and building Wiles’ reputation despite the national Trump’s loss.
In 2021, Trump tapped her to organize his Save America PAC, leading to increased involvement in other areas of his political operations. In the investigation into Trump’s handling of classified documents, Wiles is believed to be the unnamed person in special counsel Jack Smith’s original indictment to whom Trump allegedly showed a secret map, according to ABC News.
Wiles ultimately co-led Trump’s 2024 campaign with LaCivita and helped outmaneuver DeSantis’ main challenge by getting most of the Florida GOP congressional delegation to support Trump before DeSantis had officially announced.
Wiles has a “calming presence” on Trump
The soft-spoken Wiles is credited with keeping Trump’s campaign organized and focused despite the candidate’s very public legal issues and personal quirks.
She helped orchestrate an unprecedented “campaign from the courtroom” during his trial in New York City on charges of paying and covering up hush money payments to an adult film actress, including Trump’s daily rants, Manhattan events, court visits from top allies — including the Speaker of the House of Representatives and vice presidential candidates — and a massive fundraising blitz that helped Trump close the money gap with President Joe Biden despite his historic felony conviction earlier this spring.
“I think she has a very good balance,” said former Trump White House press secretary Sean Spicer. ‘She doesn’t want to be in the spotlight. She has the experience. She has the confidence. She flies right on the radar where you want to be.”
What does the White House Chief of Staff do?
The chief of staff exercises enormous influence in the government. He serves as a gatekeeper for the president, directs the White House staff, organizes his time and schedule, and liaises with other departments and lawmakers.
USA TODAY’s Fernando Cervantes Jr. contributed to this story.
This article originally appeared in the Florida Times-Union: Susie Wiles of Florida is Donald Trump’s chief of staff WH. Who she is
