Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Trump makes change at top of campaign staff
Veteran operative promoted
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump shook up his campaign staff Wednesday by replacing campaign manager Brad Parscale with veteran GOP operative Bill Stepien.
Trump announced the move on Facebook late Wednesday. “I am pleased to announce that Bill Stepien has been promoted to the role of Trump Campaign Manager,” he said. “Brad Parscale, who has been with me for a very long time and has led our tremendous digital and data strategies, will remain in that role, while being a Senior Advisor to the campaign.”
Trump’s 2020 campaign had so far largely avoided the regular staff churn that dominated the president’s 2016 campaign and his White House. But the staff change might not alter the day-to-day running of the campaign.
Parscale, a political novice, ran Trump’s digital advertising in 2016 and was credited with helping bring about his surprise victory that year. Stepien has been in politics for years, working for former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and serving as Trump’s national field director in 2016.
Former Vice President Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee, also shuffled his campaign team during a rough stretch in his campaign, albeit much earlier in the cycle. For Biden, the moves marked genuine shake-ups that expanded and changed how the campaign operated.
Biden elevated Anita Dunn, effectively displacing his first campaign manager, Greg Schultz, after a fourthplace Iowa finish and after he was already headed for a second embarrassing finish in New Hampshire. Dunn had joined Biden at the outset of his campaign after having served former President Barack Obama as a top communications adviser.
With Dunn’s urging, Biden hired his current campaign manager, Jen O’Malley Dillon, in March after Dunn and others helped resurrect Biden in Nevada and South Carolina and put him on the path to the nomination.