President-elect Donald Trump made history twice this week, first by winning the White House for the second time as a former president, and then by appointing Susie Wiles as his chief of staff.

Wiles, a longtime GOP operative and adviser to Trump, will be the first woman to hold that coveted position in American history. By all accounts, she deserved it. Wiles is credited with sharpening Trump’s campaign activities after his 2020 loss and helping him win both the Electoral College and the national popular vote in 2024 — a feat that has eluded Republican candidates for president for two decades.

“Susie Wiles just helped me achieve one of the greatest political victories in American history and was an integral part of my successful 2016 and 2020 campaigns,” Trump said in a statement Thursday announcing her nomination to the White House announced.

“Susie is tough, smart, innovative, and widely admired and respected. Susie will continue to work tirelessly to Make America Great Again. It is a well-deserved honor to have Susie as the first-ever female Chief of Staff in United States history. I doubt it I don’t think she will make our country proud,” he said.

TRUMP CHIEF CHIEF SUSIE WILES EVER HAD NFL BROADCAST LEGEND FATHER PAT SUMMERALL DEFEATED ALCOHOLISM

Former President Donald Trump’s co-campaign manager Susie Wiles is seen at Nashville International Airport as Trump arrives in Nashville, Tennessee, on July 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

While Wiles is well-known, respected and even feared in Florida, she is not as well known in Washington, D.C., and certainly not nationally. So who is Susie Wiles? Here are five things to know about the next White House chief of staff:

Her father was a legendary NFL broadcaster and she helped him overcome his addiction

Wiles is the daughter of the late legendary NFL broadcaster Pat Summerall. Summerall was an NFL champion and lead color commentator alongside John Madden on CBS for more than two decades.

During his broadcasting career, Summerall admitted to becoming an alcoholic. In his 2006 biography, he told how his daughter, Susie, organized an intervention for him and helped him overcome his addiction.

From left, halfback Phil King, star forward Pat Summerall and New York Giants quarterback Don Heinrich toast each other over drinks at the Lone Star Boat Club here Nov. 2 to celebrate their team’s defeat of the Green Bay Packers Nov. 1 at Yankee Stadium, 20-3. Summerall scored eight points on two field goals and two extra point kicks. (Getty Images)

“Dad, the few times we have been in public together recently, I have felt ashamed that we shared the same last name,” Wiles said in a letter read during the intervention, according to Summerall’s 2006 autobiography, “On and Off the air.”

Summerall wrote that his daughter’s words inspired him to take steps to address his addiction.

Her first job in politics was with her father’s old teammate

In the late 1970s, Wiles was hired as an assistant to Summerall’s old teammate on the New York Giants, someone who spent a long and successful career in the House of Representatives and was later nominated for vice president. That was none other than the late Jack Kemp, one of the leading supporters of former President Ronald Reagan’s economic theories and architect of the Regan tax cuts.

Wiles went on to work for Reagan himself as a planner for his 1980 presidential campaign and later for the White House. She left Washington, D.C., for Florida in the 1990s and served as chief of staff to John Delaney, the mayor of Jacksonville. She also worked as a district director for Rep. Tillie Fowler in Northeast Florida.

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Congressman Jack F. Kemp speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference. (Cynthia Johnson/Getty Images)

Delaney praised Wiles in an interview for Politico Magazine. “I’ve described her as a political savant – just otherworldly political instincts,” he said.

Wiles remained a fixture in Florida politics for decades, eventually helping a health care executive named Rick Scott become governor in 2010. Scott is now Florida’s junior senator and is celebrating his re-election to a second term this week.

She once described herself as a “card-carrying member of the Republican establishment” but supported Trump

Wiles has worked for every conceivable group of Republicans, from moderate to conservative. However, she surprised her friends and allies when she decided to become co-chair of the Trump campaign in Florida in 2015.

“As a member of the Republican establishment, many thought my full support of Trump’s candidacy was unwise — even insane,” Wiles told the New York Times in a rare public statement.

Former President Donald Trump attends a game between the NFL Pittsburgh Steelers and the New York Jets with senior campaign advisor Susie Wiles on October 20, 2024 in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. (Evan Vucci-Pool/Getty Images)

Although she faced skepticism, Wiles explained to the Tampa Bay Times at the time that she believed no other Republican running for president in 2016 was prepared to bring about the change she believed Washington DC needed. She said national Republicans had developed “a culture of expediency” and had lost sight of core principles.

“I said, ‘I don’t want this to continue.’ I think it will seriously damage our republic and who in that group can really have the power to change what I have seen happening all these years?” Wiles told the newspaper.

It turned out that her instincts were right. Trump won the primaries and shocked the political establishment by stunningly defeating Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.

She helped Ron DeSantis become governor before the feud erupted

In 2018, a young Florida congressman named Ron DeSantis decided to run for governor. He won a contentious Republican primary thanks to Trump’s support, but his campaign struggled and fell behind in the polls.

With just over a month before the election, DeSantis hired Wiles to right the ship. Her guidance is largely credited with pushing DeSantis across the finish line in a narrow victory over disgraced former Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum.

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Republican presidential candidate, former President Donald Trump, brings Susie Wiles to the stage during an election night watch party on Wednesday, November 6, 2024 in West Palm Beach, Florida. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

After the election, however, a rift emerged between DeSantis and Wiles. Politico reported that state first lady Casey DeSantis was suspicious of Wiles’ growing influence and power in the governor’s orbit. Ultimately, Wiles was removed from DeSantis’ inner circle.

She reentered Trump’s orbit for his failed 2020 campaign and remained a close and valued advisor as he plotted a return to the White House in 2024. She was with the Trump campaign when DeSantis launched his own campaign for president, and many suspect that Trump’s team used Wiles’ inside knowledge of DeSantis to defeat the Florida governor.

In January, Wiles responded to a report on X that DeSantis had cleared his campaign website of upcoming events.

“Bye, bye,” she wrote.

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She is a registered lobbyist

In addition to her work on political campaigns, Wiles is a registered lobbyist.

Federal disclosures filed in April show Wiles was a lobbyist for the tobacco company Swisher International while running the Trump campaign. The documents show that she tried to influence Congress on “FDA regulations.”

WIles is co-chair of the Florida and Washington DC offices of Mercury Public Affairs, a lobbying firm whose clients include AirBnB, AT&T, eBay, Pfizer, Tesla and the Qatar Embassy, ​​although she is not a registered lobbyist for any of those clients.

Previously, Wiles worked for Ballard Partners, a Florida-based firm founded by lobbyist Brian Ballard.

Jackson Thompson of Fox News and The Associated Press contributed to this report.