Trump’s digital guru tapped to lead 2020 campaign
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s announcement that Brad Parscale of San Antonio will run his 2020 re-election campaign is a testament to Parscale’s renowned digital media skills, and an example of the value Trump places on hard-nosed loyalty.
For Parscale, the promotion in the world of big-time politics was another chapter in his remarkable rise to success since hawking website designs in bookstores before his career took off.
A release from the Donald J. Trump for President committee on Tuesday said the president himself was announcing the appointment of Parscale as his campaign manager as planning for the 2020 race begins.
Eric Trump, the president’s second son and a close adviser, praised Parscale as “an amazing talent” and asserted that the San Antonio advertising executive who until recently professed no burning interest in politics “was pivotal to our success in 2016.”
“He has our family’s complete trust and is the perfect person to be at the helm of the campaign,” Eric Trump said in a release.
Parscale, 42, co-founded the San Antonio digital marketing firm Giles-Parscale Inc., a company that spun off its political work and sold its commercial design and online services last year to Cloud Commerce Inc.
Parscale parlayed a minor business connection with the Trump family into a key campaign slot. In addition to directing the campaign’s successful digital operation, he managed television media buys and overall advertising, an exceptionally large portfolio for one person.
With a database he named Project Alamo, Parscale oversaw Trump’s 2016 digital operation from San Antonio, where in the late stages of the race against Hillary Clinton he had more than 100 people working on Trump’s behalf in his San Antonio.
Parscale said last year he was moving his firm’s political data and marketing operation to Florida, an easier commute to Washington and New York. But recently he has involved himself in the congressional campaign of Robert Stovall, the former Bexar County GOP chairman who is competing in a wide field for his party’s nomination for the seat of retiring Republican U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith.
Parscale has worked closely with the president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who carries the title in the White House of senior adviser and assistant to the president.
“Brad was essential in bringing a disciplined technology and data-driven approach to how the 2016 campaign was run. His leadership and expertise will help build a best-in-class campaign,” Kushner said in the statement announcing Parscale’s appointment.
Originally from Kansas, Parscale attended and played basketball at the University of Texas at San Antonio. He finished his college degree at Trinity University.
Parscale, who has told of once being nearly broke and offering web design to strangers in a San Antonio bookstore, was richly rewarded during the campaign and since. Campaign finance reports show that his company received more than $90 million in 2016, much of it he said was distributed to sub-contractors.
In 2017, a company he formed, Parscale Strategy, along with Giles-Parscale, received $6.6 million from Trump’s ongoing campaign entity and the Republican National Committee, according to Federal Election Commission reports.