White House deputy chief of staff James Blair will take a temporary leave of absence to run President Donald Trump’s political campaign for the midterms, the president posted. social mediaBut","Add":{"Target": :"New","Property":(),"url": :"https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/116382254441825770","_Identification": :"0000019d-7b62-d980-a19f-7bf6b9cd0004","_Type": :"33ac701a-72c1-316a-a3a5-13918cf384df"},"_Identification": :"0000019d-7b62-d980-a19f-7bf6b9cd0005","_Type": :"02ec1f82-5e56-3b8c-af6e-6fc7c8772266"}”>on social media Friday afternoon.
Politico reported earlier Friday that Blair and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wills were considering her move, which would keep Blair’s White House position open. He would oversee the president’s entire political operation from the outside, as well as midterm spending, according to a person familiar with the discussions and granted anonymity to describe them.
“James is the president’s top lieutenant and has been invaluable to me for the past decade. This is the framework from which we are considering our options,” Wills said in a statement to POLITICO early Friday. “It is a common sense and obvious thing to consider the best way to deploy the most valuable political assets for success in the midterms.”
In Trump’s announcement, he called Blair “one of the brightest political minds in the country, who has done tremendous work to deny long-held history and position Republicans to win in the midterms, just as he helped me with a landslide in 2024.”
The move is the clearest sign yet the White House wants a unified approach to spending and strategy ahead of the midterms. Blair, who was political director of the 2024 Trump campaign and has run White House political campaigns, has been responsible for Trump’s 2026 midterm strategy.
When they first met, the President was initially suspicious of Blair, because he was very quiet. But, the President calls him ‘Brilliant James’started saying","Add":{"Target": :"New","Property":(),"url": :"https://www.politico.com/news/2025/12/27/brilliant-james-how-james-blair-took-washington-by-storm-00706272","_Identification": :"0000019d-7b62-d980-a19f-7bf6b9cd0006","_Type": :"33ac701a-72c1-316a-a3a5-13918cf384df"},"_Identification": :"0000019d-7b62-d980-a19f-7bf6b9cd0007","_Type": :"02ec1f82-5e56-3b8c-af6e-6fc7c8772266"}”>He came to be known as ‘Brilliant James’ And late last year, publicly praised the deputy chief of staff.
“I’ve heard from other people that he’s an absolute political genius,” Trump said during a holiday event. “But I didn’t see it. And you know what? He’s not cool. He’s incredible – thanks for the work you’ve done, James.”
Prior to his work at the White House, Blair was deputy chief of staff to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and political director of the statehouse branch of the Florida Republican Party prior to the 2016 election.
