Trump Announces New Campaign Manager Bill Stepien, Replacing Brad Parscale

Trump Announces New Campaign Manager Bill Stepien, Replacing Brad Parscale
Trump 2020 campaign manager Brad Parscale at President Donald Trump's MAGA rally in Grand Rapids, Mich., on March 28, 2019. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times)
Mimi Nguyen Ly
7/15/2020
Updated:
7/16/2020

President Donald Trump announced late Wednesday that he has appointed Bill Stepien as his campaign manager, replacing Brad Parscale who will remain as a senior advisor in the campaign.

Stepien previously worked for former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R), and also had served as manager for Christie’s gubernatorial campaigns in 2009 and in 2013. He also worked for other New Jersey Republican politicians prior becoming involved with Christie’s campaign. He was fired in 2014 after Christie said he “lost confidence” in Stepien’s judgment.

Stepien served as a senior political adviser and a national field director for Trump’s 2016 campaign, and later served as a White House political director in the Trump administration. He was the deputy campaign manager prior to now taking on the campaign manager role.

In a statement, Trump said that Parscale would be a senior adviser to the campaign.

“I am pleased to announce that Bill Stepien has been promoted to the role of Trump Campaign Manager. 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 said.

Trump said that both Parscale and Stepien were “heavily involved” in bringing victory to the 2016 presidential elections and expressed hope to win once again in 2020.

“This one should be a lot easier as our poll numbers are rising fast, the economy is getting better, vaccines and therapeutics will soon be on the way, and Americans want safe streets and communities!” Trump said.

Parscale is a close ally of Trump’s son-in-law and White House senior adviser Jared Kushner.

In June, Trump held a rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, that drew less-than-expected crowds, although it was held amid the COVID-19 pandemic and social distancing requirements, as well as threats of violence from activists.

Parscale, however, came under fire after the rally’s poor showing, coming just days after he said that more than 1 million people requested tickets. The Tulsa Fire Department said later that about 6,200 people showed up for the event, although Trump campaign officials said that about 12,000 attended.

Days after the rally, the Trump campaign announced changes in staffing, but Parscale remained as campaign manager at the time.
Jack Phillips and The Associated Press contributed to this report.