A top Trump political adviser gets reelection campaign promotion

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A longtime political adviser to President Trump is being promoted to serve as deputy campaign manager for Trump’s 2020 re-election bid.

The Trump campaign announced on Tuesday that Bill Stepien – until now a senior political adviser on the campaign – is being elevated to the number two position under campaign manager Brad Parscale.

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Stepien – in a statement – called the promotion “an honor” and added that he would “continue to support Brad Parscale as he leads the campaign, working with all of our partners in states across the country, and helping to coordinate all of our efforts to ensure the President is re-elected.”

Stepien was the top political aide to Republican Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey, managing Christie’s 2009 election as governor and his 2013 re-election landslide victory. He served as the governor’s deputy chief of staff between the two campaigns.

Christie named Stepien as chair of the New Jersey GOP in early 2014, but removed him soon after he was connected to the “Bridgegate” scandal that rocked Christie and his administration. But Stepien was never among those charged by federal authorities in the case.

Stepien was brought on board the Trump presidential campaign in August of 2016 as national field director. He served as White House political director from the start of the administration in early 2017 until December 2018, when he moved to the 2020 re-election campaign.

Those familiar with the announcement tell Fox News that it had been under discussion for a while and that both Trump and Parscale had a major say in the move.

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The campaign also announced the promotion of Stephanie Alexander to campaign chief of staff. Until now, Alexander had been serving as the re-election team’s Midwest political director. During the 2016 campaign, she was also Midwest political director before being promoted to battleground states director.

Parscale emphasized in a statement that “as we enter the most important stretch of the campaign, it is important to have seasoned and steady people on our leadership team, each with their own strengths, and each with an unwavering focus on victory.”