President-Elect Donald Trump’s transition team announced Thursday that Kellyanne Conway, Trump’s former campaign manager, has been chosen to serve as counselor to the president in Trump’s White House, according to The Los Angeles Times.
Conway, who is the first female campaign manager to win a presidential election, joined Trump’s campaign in July and has been part of the president-elect’s team ever since. Many people think she may deserve more credit for Trump’s win than Trump himself, as she navigated his campaign over seemingly insurmountable hurdles and mitigated the effect of Trump’s bombastic statements on social media. And she’s one of the few people who Trump will listen to, maybe because of the way she goes about giving him advice. In a New York Magazine article from October, she talked about her attempts to get Trump to Tweet more positively.
“You had these people saying, ‘Delete the app! Stop tweeting!'” she said at the time. “I would say, ‘Here are a couple of cool things we should tweet today.’ It’s like saying to someone, ‘How about having two brownies and not six?'”
“Kellyanne Conway has been a trusted advisor and strategist who played a crucial role in my victory,” Trump said in a statement released Thursday morning, according to The Hollywood Reporter. “She is a tireless and tenacious advocate of my agenda and has amazing insights on how to effectively communicate our message. I am pleased that she will be part of my senior team in the West Wing.”
Conway will join a few other women in Trump’s administration, including secretary of education pick Betsy DeVos, secretary of transportation pick Elaine Chao, and U.N. ambassador pick Nikki Haley. But she will be the highest-ranking woman in the White House.
“I want to thank the President-elect for this amazing opportunity,” said Conway on Thursday. “A Trump presidency will bring real change to Washington and to Americans across this great nation. I am humbled and honored to play a role in helping transform the movement he has led into a real agenda of action and results.”