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Brad Parscale

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Brad Parscale

Former senior advisor for digital and data operations
2020 Trump presidential campaign
2020 presidential campaign staff

Affiliation: Republican
X: @parscale

Brad Parscale is an American business owner, website developer, and digital consultant.[1] In 2016, he served as the digital director for Donald Trump's (R) 2016 presidential bid. Parscale served as the senior advisor for digital and data operations for President Trump's (R) 2020 re-election campaign, until he became the campaign manager in February 2018. He served in that role until July 15, 2020, when he was replaced by deputy campaign manager Bill Stepien.[2]

Before joining the Trump campaign, Parscale was a digital marketing strategist for the Trump Organization.[3]





Career

Parscale graduated from Trinity University in 1999 with a bachelor's degree in business finance, international business, and economics.[4] He began his career selling CGI software.[5] In 2004, he founded a web marketing company, Parscale Media, which merged with Giles Design in 2011 to become Giles-Parscale, Inc.[6] In 2012, Parscale's company was hired to build a website for Trump International Realty, and he was contracted for further work by the Trump family businesses, including Trump Winery and the Eric Trump Foundation.[7]

Work with Trump presidential campaign

2016

See also: Donald Trump presidential campaign, 2016

In 2015, Giles-Parscale was hired to create a website for Trump's exploratory presidential campaign, and he became the campaign's digital director in June 2016.[8]

Russia investigation into 2016 campaign activity

Parscale was interviewed in the fall of 2017 by the House Intelligence Committee as part of the committee's investigation into Russian activity in the 2016 presidential election. The House Intelligence Committee discovered that Russian hackers got a hold of voter registration information. According to Esquire, that data was "distributed by Guccifer 2.0, a self-described hacker linked to the Russian government, to at least one Republican political operative in Florida,"—the state out of which Parscale's firm was based.[9]

In July 2017, Parscale said the following: "I am unaware of any Russian involvement in the digital and data operations of the 2016 Trump presidential campaign. The Trump digital campaign used the exact same digital marketing strategies that are used every day by corporate America."[10]

2020

See also: Donald Trump presidential campaign, 2020

In January 2017, Parscale and senior Trump aide Nick Ayers launched America First Policies, a nonprofit organization founded to support Trump's policy agenda.[11][12][13][9]

Campaign manager appointment

On February 27, 2018, Trump announced that he had chosen Parscale as the campaign manager for his 2020 re-election bid.[14]

The campaign's press release included remarks from Eric Trump and Jared Kushner. Eric Trump stated, "Brad is an amazing talent and was pivotal to our success in 2016. He has our family's complete trust and is the perfect person to be at the helm of the campaign." Kushner said, “Brad was essential in bringing a disciplined technology and data-driven approach to how the 2016 campaign was run. His leadership and expertise will be help build [sic] a best-in-class campaign.”[14]

Reaction
  • Sean Illing of Vox said that Parscale was "an extremely controversial choice to run the president’s 2020 campaign — particularly given that Trump’s 2016 campaign is still being investigated for potential collusion with Russia."[15]
  • Joshua Green of Bloomberg said, "Parscale’s elevation to campaign manager signals that Trump’s presidential campaign is likely to be a digital-first—or at least digital-heavy—affair, that will once again leverage Facebook and social media to galvanize Trump’s followers and raise money."[16]
  • Counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway said, "It should surprise no one that family members and a major player who has not come inside the administration would be called upon to redouble that effort for the re-elect."[17]
  • Katrina Pierson, national spokesperson for Trump's 2016 campaign, said, "I'm thrilled that Brad Parscale is going to be the campaign manager. ... We were on team Trump before so many other people were. He is absolutely the best man for the job."[18]
Campaign strategy

In a June 2019 interview on The Takeout podcast, Parscale stated:

“ My goal right now honestly as the campaign is structural, structure, build out data mining operations, build you know the way our field operation works, build out our coalition programs. I'm not gonna talk about PR strategy, communications strategy, the president leads that. But my job as campaign manager is to build a structure because math matters, these people in the crowd matter, the data mining matters, and I need to build the best operation in American history.[19][20] ”


The following excerpt is from a November 2018 Washington Post profile of Parscale:

“

With his early war chest and a database of 20 million Trump supporters, Parscale is poised to launch a massive reelection operation that he expects will raise $1 billion — three times what the campaign collected in 2016. Rather than lean on Facebook to reach supporters, he plans to rely heavily on email, cellphone texts and apps.

'The whole game will be different' in 2020, said Parscale, who plans to run the operation from an office complex in a Virginia suburb. 'We are no longer a grass-roots campaign. We are now sitting in the White House. We have a different mission now.'

The last campaign, he said, was about presenting voters with 'dreams' of what a Trump presidency could be like. Now, Parscale said, the mission will be to present voters with 'facts' that prove those dreams are coming true.[21][20]

”
Digital operations strategy

In an April 2019 interview on America This Week, Parscale said that the campaign's spending on its digital strategy could reach half of its overall spending, which he expected to be at least a billion dollars. "We're running one of the largest prospecting campaigns in political history," he said. Parscale also claimed that prior to Trump's 2016 campaign, 10% to 15% of campaign spending was used on digital strategy, while Trump's campaign dedicated almost half of its budget to digital.[22]


Post-2020 election activities

After Parscale was replaced by Bill Stepien as Trump's campaign manager in July 2020, he remained with the campaign as the senior adviser for data and digital operations. In September 2020, he announced he was "stepping away from my company and any role in the campaign for the immediate future to focus on my family and get help dealing with the overwhelming stress."[23]

Immediately following the 2020 election, Parscale criticized the Trump campaign saying Trump's decision to prioritize the economy over his response to the COVID-19 pandemic cost him the presidency.[24] Parscale relaunched his political consulting business, and served as an unpaid adviser to Ohio Rep. Jim Renacci (R) during his 2021 primary challenge against incumbent Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R).[25]

In July 2022, text messages sent by Parscale to fellow Trump campaign aide Katrina Pierson were released following an inquiry into the January 6, 2022, attack on the U. S. Capitol. Parscale messaged he felt "guilty for helping him [Trump] win."[26]

As of 2024, Parscale owned the company Campaign Nucleus, whose stated mission "is to empower campaigns and organizations to make a lasting impact in the dynamic and ever-evolving political landscape."[27] According to the Associated Press, "Campaign Nucleus and other Parscale-related companies have been paid more than $2.2 million by the Trump campaign and political action and fundraising committees of the Republican National Committee."[28] There have been no reports that Parscale has been involved in any day-to-day campaign activities related to the election in 2024.[28]

Media

This section contains media coverage, interviews, and profiles of Parscale.

Videos

"Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale predicts 'electoral landslide'" – CBS News, June 18, 2019
"Full interview: Brad Parscale on 'Face the Nation'" – Face the Nation, April 28, 2019
"Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale talks 2020" – Fox News, January 10, 2019
"The Facebook Dilemma: Brad Parscale" – Frontline, November 29, 2018
"Trump's digital guru on the winning campaign operation" – Fox News, November 15, 2016

Interviews

Profiles

See also

External links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Houston Public Media, "Who is Texan Brad Parscale, Trump’s 2020 Re-Election Campaign Manager," February 28, 2018
  2. ↑ The New York Times, "Trump Demotes Brad Parscale, His Campaign Manager," July 15, 2020
  3. ↑ Democracy In Action, "Donald J. Trump for President," accessed August 26, 2019
  4. ↑ LinkedIn, "Brad Parscale," accessed August 26, 2019
  5. ↑ Wayback Machine, "5 Things to Know About Brad Parscale, Trump's 2020 Campaign Manager," February 27, 2018
  6. ↑ https://www.propublica.org/article/the-myths-of-the-genius-behind-trumps-reelection-campaign, ProPublica, The Myths of the “Genius” Behind Trump’s Reelection Campaign," September 11, 2019]
  7. ↑ San Antonio Business Journal, "You’re hired! Local firm tapped to build Donald Trump for President website," June 25, 2015
  8. ↑ Bloomberg, "Inside the Trump Bunker, With Days to Go," October 27, 2016
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Esquire, "Who Is Donald Trump's 2020 Campaign Manager, Brad Parscale?," February 27, 2018
  10. ↑ Twitter, "Brad Parscale on Twitter," July 14, 2017
  11. ↑ The Washington Post, "Trump allies launch nonprofit to support the administration’s agenda," January 30, 2017
  12. ↑ Fox News, "Who is Brad Parscale, Trump's 2020 campaign manager?," February 27, 2018
  13. ↑ The Texas Tribune, "Meet the San Antonio Tech Guru Who's Leading Trump's Digital Charge," August 25, 2016
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Donald J. Trump for President, "President Trump announces 2020 campaign manager," February 27, 2018
  15. ↑ Vox, "How Trump’s 2020 campaign manager is connected to the Russia scandal," February 27, 2018
  16. ↑ Bloomberg, "Three Reasons Trump Chose Brad Parscale to Run His 2020 Campaign," February 27, 2018
  17. ↑ The New York Times, "Trump’s 2020 Campaign Announcement Had a Very Trumpian Rollout," February 27, 2018
  18. ↑ Twitter, "America First," February 28, 2018
  19. ↑ CBS News, "Trump campaign manager speaks to 'The Takeout'," June 21, 2019
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
  21. ↑ The Washington Post, "How Brad Parscale, once a ‘nobody in San Antonio,’ shaped Trump’s combative politics and rose to his inner circle," November 9, 2018
  22. ↑ WJLA, "Trump's 2020 campaign will spend at least $1 billion, Parscale tells 'America This Week'," April 24, 2019
  23. ↑ Politico, "Parscale steps away from Trump campaign as wife denies physical abuse," September 30, 2020
  24. ↑ Forbes, "Ex-Trump Campaign Manager Brad Parscale Says President’s Virus Response Cost Him Election," December 1, 2020
  25. ↑ https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/brad-parscale-advising-potential-primary-challenger-ohio-s-republican-governor-n1267132 NBC News, "Brad Parscale advising potential primary challenger to Ohio's Republican governor," May 12, 2021]
  26. ↑ United States House of Representatives, "Committees No Longer Standing," accessed September 11, 2024
  27. ↑ https://campaignnucleus.com/about Campaign Nucleus, "About," accessed September 13, 2024]
  28. ↑ 28.0 28.1 Associated Press, "Brad Parscale helped Trump win in 2016 using Facebook ads. Now he’s back, and an AI evangelist," May 5, 2024
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