The daughter of NFL player and sportscaster Pat Summerall, Wiles worked in the Washington office of New York Representative Jack Kemp in the 1970s. He later served on Ronald Reagan’s campaign and in the White House as a planner.

Wiles then went to Florida, where she advised two Jacksonville mayors and worked for Rep. Tillie Fowler. After that, there were statewide campaigns in tough Florida politics, with Wiles credited with helping businessman Rick Scott win the governorship.

After briefly managing Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman’s 2012 presidential campaign, she led Trump’s effort in Florida in 2016, when his victory in the state helped him clinch the White House.

Two years later, Wiles helped elect Ron DeSantis governor of Florida. But the two would develop a rift that ultimately led DeSantis to urge Trump’s 2020 campaign to cut ties with the strategist, as she once again ran the then-president’s state campaign.

Wiles ultimately managed Trump’s primary campaign against DeSantis and defeated the Florida governor. Trump campaign aides and outside allies gleefully taunted DeSantis throughout the race — mocking his laugh, the way he eats and accusing him of wearing high-tops in his boots — as well as using insider knowledge that many suspected came from Wiles and others in the Trump campaign. staff who had also worked for DeSantis and had bad experiences.

Wiles had only posted three times on X this year at the time of his announcement. Shortly before DeSantis withdrew from the presidential race in January, Wiles made a rare appearance on social media. She responded to a post that DeSantis had cleared his campaign website of upcoming events with a short but clear message: “Goodbye.”

Joining Trump’s third campaign in its early days, Wiles is one of the few senior officials to survive an entire Trump campaign and was part of the team that put together a much more professional operation for his third bid for office. White House – even if the first In any case, the president regularly broke these guardrails.

She largely avoided the spotlight, even refusing to take the microphone to speak as Trump celebrated his victory early Wednesday morning.

But she showed that she did not hesitate to take on tasks reserved for volunteers. During one of Trump’s appearances in Iowa in July last year, as the former president posed for photos with a long line of voters, Wiles grabbed a clipboard and began to approaching people while waiting for them to fill out caucus entry cards for Trump in the first primary contest.

“If we leave the conference room after a meeting and someone leaves trash on the table, Susie is the person who should pick up the trash and put it in the trash can,” said Chris LaCivita, co-chair of the campaign with Wiles.

Another of his three posts on After Wiles was selected as White House chief of staff, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, a Trump supporter, joked on X that the president-elect had chosen a “strong, intelligent woman” as his chief of staff.

Wiles was able to help control Trump’s worst impulses — not by berating him or lecturing him, but by earning his respect and showing him that it was better to follow his advice rather than flout it. At one point late in the campaign when Trump gave a widely criticized speech in Pennsylvania in which he strayed from his talking points and suggested he wouldn’t mind if the media was shot , Wiles came out to watch it silently.

Trump frequently referenced Wiles on the campaign trail, publicly praising his leadership for what he was often told was his “best-run campaign.”

“She’s amazing. Unbelievable,” he said at a rally in Milwaukee earlier this month.

During his first administration, Trump experienced four chiefs of staff — including one who served in an acting role for a year — during a period of record staff disengagement.

A chief of staff is the president’s confidant, helping to execute an agenda and balance competing policy and policy priorities. They also tend to serve as gatekeepers, helping determine who the president spends his time with and who he speaks to — an effort that has angered Trump in the White House.

Trump has repeatedly said he believes the biggest mistake of his first term was hiring the wrong people. He was new to Washington then, he said, and didn’t know much.

But now, Trump says, he knows the “best people” and those to avoid when it comes to getting a job.

Associated Press writers Michelle L. Price and Zeke Miller in Washington and Jill Colvin in West Palm Beach, Fla., contributed to this report.