JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Susie Wiles is no stranger to ascending to the highest places of politics.
“The Ice Maiden. That is what we call her,” President-Elect Donald Trump said during a speech early Wednesday morning when his victory against Vice President Kamala Harris was certain.
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After being called to the podium, Wiles walked up to Trump during his victory speech hours after the polls closed, but she didn’t get in front of the microphone.
“Susie likes to stay sort of in the back, let me tell you. She is not in the background,” Trump said.
That wasn’t always true though.
News4Jax dusted off the archives and found Wiles sitting at our election special panel back in 2008.
Even before that, Wiles’ involvement in politics spanned decades.
Former Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry told News4JAX on Friday that Wiles guided his campaign against incumbent Mayor Alvin Brown in 2015, a campaign he ultimately won.
“I knew I had to have the best around me. So, Susie was a part of that team,” he said.
Wiles, a Ponte Vedra Beach resident and daughter of legendary NFL play-by-play man Pat Summerall, paved her own way through decades of campaign victories.
She was the first female Chief of Staff to the mayor in Jacksonville history serving under Mayor John Delaney. She later worked in John Peyton’s administration.
Wiles also worked for Republicans on the national level including Jack Kemp, John McCain, and President Ronald Reagan.
“When you are building a team, if you don’t have Susie on your team, you’re crazy. So, I asked, and she accepted,” he said.
Now, she has ascended to the highest form of being chief of staff, in the incoming Trump administration.
It comes after she managed the Trump campaign in what was a divisive election year.
“She injected herself in the middle of that. No one thought he could win if we were having this conversation a year ago. Everyone had written him off. Very few people inside of Republican politics even were supporting him,” Curry said.
Wiles is now heading into a role that was filled by four different people over the course of the first Trump administration.
“She’s got it,” Curry said.