Trump names Susie Wiles as first female White House chief of staff in history

Susie Wiles, a longtime GOP operative, will serve as President-elect Trump’s White House chief of staff. 

Largely avoiding the spotlight, Wiles has been widely credited for running what was Trump’s most disciplined and well-executed campaign. 

During his victory celebration in West Palm Beach, Florida, Trump gave a special thanks to Wiles for her prominent role in the campaign. 

“Let me also express my tremendous appreciation for Susie [Wiles] and Chris [LaCivita], on the job you did. Susie, come, Susie,” he said. “Susie likes to stay sort of in the back, let me tell you. The ice baby. We call her the ice baby. Susie likes to stay in the background. She’s not in the background.” 

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Trump co-campaign manager Susie Wiles is seen at Nashville International Airport in Nashville, Tennessee, as former President Trump arrives on July 27.  (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Trump described Wiles as “tough, smart, innovative” and said she is “universally admired and respected.” 

He noted her place as the first female chief of staff in U.S. history, saying: “I have no doubt that she will make our country proud.”

Veteran GOP strategist John Brabender told Fox News Digital: “If they searched high and low in the entire world, there is not a better choice than Susie Wiles for White House Chief of Staff.”

When it comes to Wiles, Brabender said, “nobody’s going to have a better relationship with the president, who understands that she is there to help him however she can, and he will respect that.”

“Susie will have no other agenda than helping the president help people,” Brabender emphasized. And he noted that “everybody who works for Susie in the White House will be vetted by Susie which means that there’re going to be nothing but the best.” 

A longtime Florida-based Republican strategist who ran Trump’s campaign in the state in 2016 and 2020, Wiles’ decades-long political career stretches back to working as former President Reagan’s campaign scheduler for his 1980 presidential bid. 

Wiles also ran Rick Scott’s 2010 campaign for Florida governor and briefly served as the manager of former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman’s 2012 presidential campaign. 

President-elect Trump brings Susie Wiles to the podium at an election night watch party in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Wednesday. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Wiles currently serves as a senior adviser to Trump and is campaign co-chair alongside Chris LaCivita.

Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy was previously floated as a possible contender for chief of staff, but recently told “The Guy Benson Show” that he would not take the position if it was offered. 

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“People always ask if I’m going to be chief of staff — no, I’m not going to be… that’s a no,” he said. 

Fox News Digital’s Aishah Hasnie, Paul Steinhauser, Aubrie Spady and The Associated Press contributed to this report.