Susie Wiles Leaves the White House as Trump Names Stephen Miller Chief of Staff, Ending a Run That Began in Jacksonville City Hall

Susie Wiles, the Northeast Florida political strategist who rose from Jacksonville City Hall to become the first woman ever to serve as White House chief of staff, is out of the job. President Donald Trump announced Friday, Nov. 6, that his deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller, will replace her starting Monday, Nov. 9, three days after Democrats swept Tuesday's midterm elections and won control of both the House and the Senate.

Wiles submitted her resignation Thursday night, according to CBS News and Scripps News, and will move to Trump's political operation. Her exit removes the most powerful Floridian in the West Wing, a strategist whose career ran through four Jacksonville mayors, two winning campaigns for Florida governor and every one of Trump's Florida campaigns.

What Trump announced

Trump made the change public on Truth Social, calling Miller "one of my most trusted advisors" and writing that Wiles, "who has done an outstanding job, will be moving over to the Trump Political Operation," according to CBS News. Speaking to reporters, he said, "I wanted to make a change. I think Susie's done a great job," Scripps News reported, and he described Miller as "very good politically" and a "great manager."

Three sources told CBS News the resignation was tied to the Republican midterm defeats. Wiles had planned to stay through the lame-duck session of Congress, but Trump accelerated her departure, according to CBS, and it was not immediately clear whether her deputies would remain. The move came barely a month after Trump said in October that there was "no chance" he would replace her, according to Scripps News.

Wiles confirmed the news on X, writing, "Today is my last day as White House Chief of Staff." She called serving the president "the honor of a lifetime" and pointed to securing the border, cutting taxes, strengthening the economy and putting America First as the administration's accomplishments, Scripps reported. She served from Jan. 20, 2025, through Nov. 6, 2026.

The announcement came hours before Trump flew to Florida himself. He spoke Friday evening at Kennedy Space Center on Florida's Space Coast, and FOX 35 Orlando reported that he addressed the staffing change before that speech without offering a detailed explanation.

Who Stephen Miller is

Miller has been the architect of the administration's immigration enforcement and deportation program, according to CBS News, and Scripps described him as a central figure in shaping Trump's immigration agenda and other domestic policy. CBS characterized his promotion as a doubling down on Trump's approach to governing after voters rejected the Republican agenda on Tuesday.

In his own post, Miller called Trump "the most transformative political leader in American History" and said serving on his team was "the privilege of my lifetime." He also thanked "the incomparable Susie Wiles."

The reaction from Democrats was swift. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer wrote that "Donald Trump learned nothing from his historic defeat." House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries, likely the next speaker, called Miller "a dangerous xenophobe and reckless extremist," and Rep. Robert Garcia, in line to chair the House Oversight Committee, said Miller "should lawyer up" and that Democrats would keep investigating him, CBS reported. Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin said the move elevates "the architect of his failed agenda." Republican Sen. Thom Tillis, a longtime Miller critic, also panned the choice, according to multiple national reports.

A career built in Jacksonville

Long before Washington, Wiles was a fixture of Jacksonville government. Born in Lake City and raised in New Jersey, she is the daughter of Pat Summerall, the former NFL player and sportscaster, and came to Northeast Florida after graduating from the University of Maryland, according to News4JAX. She worked for the Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce and led the public relations team for Mayor Jake Godbold before joining City Hall under Mayor John Delaney.

The milestones of her Northeast Florida career, as reported by News4JAX, are below.

As Delaney's chief of staff, Wiles helped advance the Better Jacksonville Plan, the public works program funded by a half-cent sales tax that paid for civic buildings, roads and land purchases for the Preservation Project, which protected environmentally sensitive areas. Under Mayor John Peyton she worked on the Jacksonville Journey crime-fighting program and the River Accord, an effort to improve the health of the St. Johns River, News4JAX reported.

She also ran the Jacksonville office of the lobbying firm Ballard Partners for most of the 2010s before leaving in September 2019, citing a health issue, Florida Politics reported at the time. As recently as 2025, she weighed in on a home-region fight, urging state officials to reject a proposed exchange of 600 acres of the Guana River Wildlife Management Area in St. Johns County, which she called "a treasure in northeast Florida," according to News4JAX and The Tributary.

Running Florida's biggest campaigns

Wiles's statewide reputation was built on Florida campaigns. She managed Rick Scott's successful 2010 run for governor, led Ron DeSantis's 2018 campaign for governor, and ran Trump's Florida operations in 2016 and 2020, according to News4JAX. She then co-managed Trump's 2024 presidential campaign with Chris LaCivita, the Associated Press has reported, which led directly to her appointment as chief of staff.

Her time with DeSantis was the most turbulent chapter. She took over his faltering campaign in the final stretch of 2018 and led his transition, but the relationship later soured, with DeSantis's team accusing her in 2019 of leaking an internal memo, according to contemporaneous reporting. Wiles later said in an interview that the feud was behind her and described DeSantis as a good governor.

How Jacksonville is reacting

Delaney, the former Jacksonville mayor who made her the city's first female chief of staff, told News4JAX on Saturday that he does not see the departure as a sad moment for her. "I don't view this change as any sad event for her. In fact, I'm happy for her," he said.

Delaney noted that the average White House chief of staff serves about 18 months and that Wiles exceeded that mark. He said mutual friends told him she is tired, and he described the exit as likely mutual. He compared the job to working 100 hours a week and said he expects her to keep significant influence with Trump and to remain loyal to him.

He also recalled that in 2015 Wiles told him Trump had asked her to run his presidential campaign, and that he tried to talk her out of it because he doubted Trump could win the primary. Delaney said her influence was visible in Trump's early presidency, that history will remember her, and that the move to Trump's political organization will likely be positive and less stressful. Wiles has daughters and a grandchild in Jacksonville, he noted.

When she was first appointed, Delaney told the Florida Times-Union her selection was "good for the country and good for Jacksonville," according to News4JAX.

What it means for Florida

For two years, Florida Republicans had one of their own running the White House staff, someone who knew the state's donors, county parties and congressional delegation from decades of campaign work. Miller has no comparable Florida network, and it is not yet clear whether Wiles's deputies will stay, which could change how Florida officials reach the West Wing as a new governor takes office.

The shake-up also lands at an awkward moment for the state party. Florida was a relative bright spot for Republicans on Tuesday: Byron Donalds won the governor's race and Sen. Ashley Moody held her seat, according to CBS News projections. Nationally, though, the losses were steep enough that Trump made his first major personnel change of the post-election period at the top of his own staff.

What's next

Miller takes over as chief of staff on Monday. Wiles moves to the Trump political operation, where Delaney and other allies expect her to remain a close adviser. Democrats, who take control of Congress in January, have signaled that Miller will be a target of oversight, with Garcia saying House investigators would keep looking into him.