Shortly after Republican candidate for president Donald Trump handedly won the 2024 election, securing a series of pivotal swing states in a race that saw a large swath of the electorate shift radically to the right, he named his future chief of staff, Susie Wiles.
“I want to thank the American people for the extraordinary honor of being elected your 47th president and your 45th president,” now President-elect Trump told supporters at a victory party at the Palm Beach County Convention Center, shortly after he declared victory on Wednesday, Nov. 6.
Trump will be the first president to secure the White House after having been convicted of felony crimes and found liable for sexual assault.
President-elect Trump wasted no time announcing Wiles, 66, as his future chief of staff, calling her "tough, smart, innovative" and someone who is "universally admired and respected" in a statement obtained by CNN.
As the country prepares for a second Trump presidency, here is what people should know about the 47th president's chief of staff.
Donald Trump praises his campaign senior advisor Susie Wiles during an election night event at the Palm Beach Convention Center on November 06, 2024 in West Palm Beach, Florida.
She's a seasoned political consultant.
According to CNN, Wiles has spent years working in Washington, D.C. as a lobbyist, and as of Thursday is listed as the co-chair of the Florida and Washington, DC, offices of Mercury, a national lobbying firm.
In 2024, Mercury has a total of 66 clients, according to OpenSecrets, bringing in a total amount of $8,925,000 from those firms to lobby policy and lawmakers on their behalf.
Per CNN, it is currently unknown if the 66-year-old will "step away from her position at Mercury" after neither President-elect Trump's transition team or his future chief of staff responded to a request for comment.
Wiles got her start in politics in 1995, when she helped John Delaney become the first Republican mayor of Jacksonville since the Reconstruction era, USA Today reports. Wiles went on to work for New York Rep. Jack Kemp and the former President Ronald Reagan's presidential campaign and administration.
Dana White, Eric Trump, Susie Wiles and Lara Trump listen as Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks after being declared the winner during an election night watch party.
She has a famous father.
Wiles is the daughter of the iconic football broadcaster, Pat Summerall. For the uninitiated, Summerall worked for both CBS and FOX calling NFL games for an astounding 41 years before announcing his retirement following the 2002 season.
For 21 seasons, Summerall called games alongside football legend John Madden—the pair became network television's most prominent broadcasting duo.
In 2013, Summerall passed away at the age of 82 of cardiac arrest.
"Think about this: Her dad sat between John Madden and Howard Cosell, two of the biggest personalities, pains in the a**, right?" a Trump campaign official previously told USA TODAY. "Really hard thing, and he was the calming center. And it’s genetic. She has that."
She was Trump's acting campaign manager.
“Susie Wiles just helped me achieve one of the greatest political victories in American history, and was an integral part of both my 2016 and 2020 successful campaigns,” Trump said in the statement announcing her appointment to White House chief of staff.
“Susie is tough, smart, innovative, and is universally admired and respected," the statement continued. "Susie will continue to work tirelessly to Make America Great Again.”
Unlike many of the people in Trump's political orbit, Wiles worked behind-the-scenes on the campaign.
“Susie likes to stay sort of in the back,” Trump said Wednesday after he asked Wiles to address the crowd at his victory party. Wiles publicly declined Trump's invitation, and instead passed the mic to co-campaign manager Chris LaCivita.
"She hates the limelight," Delaney said earlier this year to USA TODAY.
Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles
She will make history as the first woman to be named White House chief of staff.
Once Trump takes office, Wiles will become the first woman to hold the position in U.S. history.
“She is brilliant, tough, strategic,” Florida Rep. Jared Moskowitz, a Democrat, posted Thursday on X, formerly known as Twitter, after President-elect Trump made his chief of staff announcement.
“She will serve the country well.”
