Trump campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt will become the youngest White House press secretary in US history, taking up the post at the age of 27.
President-elect Donald Trump announced on November 15 that he has appointed Karoline Leavitt, a campaign spokeswoman and current transition team member, as White House press secretary.
“Karoline is smart, tough, and has proven herself to be an extremely effective communicator. I have every confidence that she will excel on the podium and help deliver our message to the people as we make America great again,” Trump said.
Leavitt, 27, will become the youngest White House press secretary in U.S. history. Previously, that title belonged to Ronald Ziegler, who took the position under former President Richard Nixon in 1969, at the age of 29.
Karoline Leavitt, whose full name is Karoline Claire Leavitt, was born on August 24, 1997, in Atkinson, New Hampshire. Her family owns an ice cream shop and a used truck dealership in Plaistow. Leavitt is married and has a son born in 2024.
After graduating from high school, Leavitt attended Saint Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in communications and political science. She worked at WMUR-TV during her college years.
Leavitt began her career as a summer intern in the Office of Presidential Correspondence at the White House before her senior year of college. After graduating from college, she worked in that office before moving to the White House Press Office as assistant press secretary to Kayleigh McEnany during the first term of the Trump administration.
“Serving President Trump and meeting so many amazing people along the way has been the honor of my life,” Leavitt wrote when sharing a photo taken in the Oval Office in January 2021.
After the Trump administration ended its term in early 2021, she worked as communications director for New York state congresswoman Elise Stefanik.
In 2022, Leavitt ran for the House of Representatives as a Republican representing New Hampshire’s 1st Congressional District. She won the Republican primary but ultimately lost to Democratic incumbent Chris Pappas. Still, Leavitt made history as the second Gen Z to win a House primary that year, after Maxwell Frost, now a Florida congressman.
Mr Trump did not endorse any candidate in that year’s primary, but praised Leavitt’s victory in New Hampshire, describing her as having “tremendous energy and intellect”.
She later joined the campaign of Republican candidate Donald Trump. As a spokesperson, Leavitt became a media fixture, appearing regularly on television and radio to defend Mr. Trump.
She has been by Mr. Trump’s side throughout the campaign across the United States, accompanying him to the Manhattan courthouse to attend the trial of the falsification case related to the hush money payment to a porn star.
In July, as Leavitt returned from the hospital after a difficult birth and was watching a Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, gunman Thomas Crooks fired a volley of bullets in an attempt to assassinate the Republican candidate.
“I looked at my husband and said, ‘Looks like I have to get back to work,’” she said. “Trump risked his life to win this election, so I felt like I had to at least get back to work quickly.”
Leavitt said she received a “warm” phone call from Mr. Trump, asking about her postpartum situation. Mr. Trump then passed the phone to his wife, Melania, and the two shared about motherhood.
“Mr. Trump and Mrs. Melania talked about their love for Barron. He joked: ‘We have a little boy, but he’s not a little boy anymore!’”
Just four days after giving birth to her son, Leavitt returned to the campaign trail with a speech about the assassination attempt and continued to accompany Mr. Trump in the crucial final months before the November election.
“Karoline is one of the president-elect’s most trusted associates,” said Sebastian Gorka, one of two candidates being considered to be Trump’s deputy national security adviser. “You can see that by the fact that she’s been entrusted with some of the most important announcements regarding the incoming cabinet.”
