Brad Parscale’s abrupt demotion on Wednesday night “shocked” some within the Trump campaign, sources familiar with the move told Fox News, even as the numbers of President Trump’s sliding polls and the recent debacle of the Tulsa had asked questions about his future.
The president announced on Facebook and later on Twitter Wednesday night that Parscale would be replaced as campaign manager by Bill Stepien, who had served as deputy campaign manager.
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Parscale, who ran Trump’s digital operations in 2016 and was promoted to Trump’s right-hand man for the 2020 cycle, is expected to return to his previous role.
Two senior campaign officials told Fox News that Parscale will serve as senior advisor focusing entirely on the campaign’s digital operation and data collection.
Speculation has swirled for weeks about Parscale’s future, as Trump has lagged behind Democratic presidential challenger Joe Biden by double digits in multiple polls, and as the campaign struggled to fill seats for the president’s rally last month in Tulsa, Okla.
A source familiar with the situation said Parscale had been losing influence lately with other more powerful campaign officials, including Stepien, who joined the campaign in May as deputy campaign manager after serving as political director at the White House. There was also the return of Stephanie Alexander, who was on the campaign trail in 2016 and returned in May as the campaign chief of staff.
Still, multiple sources told Fox News that many expected Parscale to stay during the election, and that Wednesday night’s announcement was a “surprise” and that many were “shocked.”
“They shouldn’t be,” a senior administration official told Fox News. “It had to happen.”
The official added: “This does not surprise anyone who knows POTUS and how they want their campaign to be carried out.”
Stepien, before joining the campaign and the Trump administration, previously led both governor campaigns for former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. Stepien also served as Christie’s deputy chief of staff.
A source familiar with the measure told Fox News that Stepien is a “very hard worker,” while another said he is “married to his job.”
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“Bill’s MO is to stay under the radar and keep his head down and focus on work. So in any case, all the attention he has received is likely to make him feel a little awkward, “another Republican agent told Fox News.” He knows his role is to be the guy behind the guy. “
The operation added that the campaign was looking for someone who was a “strong” and “experienced operator.”
“Brad is the best in the business when it comes to data, but he is not a political agent,” said the agent. “Stepien is one of the best political agents in the country and he innately understands the data and the field and its integration and how to use that to move the votes.”
The president announced the shakeup Wednesday night in a statement on social media.
“I am pleased to announce that Bill Stepien has been promoted to the position of Trump’s campaign manager,” the president said in a statement. “Brad Parscale, who has been with me for a long time and has spearheaded our tremendous digital and data strategies, will continue in that role while serving as Senior Advisor to the campaign.”
The president added that both Parscale and Stepien “were very involved in our historic 2016 victory, and I look forward to a great and very important second victory together.”
“This should be much easier as our survey numbers are increasing rapidly, the economy is improving, vaccines and therapeutics will soon be on the way, and Americans want safe streets and communities!” added the president.
The move comes as the president’s voting numbers have dropped, with the latest RealClearPolitics average showing Trump behind Biden at more than 8 percentage points.
The move also comes as the Trump administration has faced immense criticism of managing the coronavirus pandemic, a problem that has spread to the campaign with Democrats, and Biden himself, regularly hitting the president.
But a major shake-up in the general election campaign for Trump is unprecedented. In 2016, Trump had three campaign managers: Corey Lewandowski, who directed Trump’s main campaign and was removed before the conventions; Paul Manafort, who led the Trump campaign during the convention and was later fired, and is now in prison on charges stemming from the investigation of former special adviser Robert Mueller; and Kellyanne Conway, who led the campaign through the general election until Trump’s victory.
The restructuring follows a similar one less than a month ago, when Michael Glassner, organizer of the president’s protests, was reassigned, and Jeff DeWit, who served as Arizona president of Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, joined staff at 2020 as director of operations.
That change was in response to less-than-expected public participation at a Tulsa rally, which embarrassed the president and put the campaign on the defensive. Trump’s team noted that the rally drew large numbers of viewers and online viewers, and that the coronavirus may have led many followers to stay home.
Meanwhile, Biden campaign rapid response director Andrew Bates, in a statement to Fox News, reacted to the news of the shakeup saying: “Almost 140,000 Americans have lost their lives and millions more have lost their jobs due to Donald Trump’s failed leadership The Trump campaign musical chair set will not fix this. We need a new president for that. “
Biden also shuffled his campaign team amid a disastrous stretch in his campaign, albeit much earlier in the cycle. For Biden, the movements marked genuine shocks that expanded and changed the way the campaign worked.
Biden elevated Anita Dunn, effectively displacing his first campaign manager, Greg Schultz, after a fourth place finish in Iowa and after he was already heading for an embarrassing second finish in New Hampshire. Dunn had joined Biden early in his campaign after serving President Barack Obama as senior communications adviser.
At Dunn’s insistence, Biden hired his current campaign manager, Jen O’Malley Dillon, in March after Dunn and others helped resurrect Biden in Nevada and South Carolina and put him on the path to the nomination. Schultz is now on the Democratic National Committee, helping lead the joint battlefield strategy between the national party, Biden’s campaign, and state parties.
Fox Stein’s Paul Steinhauser, Kristin Fisher and Gregg Re contributed to this report.
