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James Blair (political advisor)

Michael James Blair is an American political consultant who has served as the White House deputy chief of staff for legislative, political and public affairs since January 2025; Blair has been on leave since April 2026.

Early life and education
Michael James Blair was born on May 21, 1989. Blair graduated from Gaither High School in 2007 and from Florida State University with a bachelor's degree in finance. ==Career==
Career
Consulting work (2013–2022) In 2013, Blair founded Rapid Loop Consulting, a political consulting firm. He divested from the firm after the 2024 presidential election, according to the company's president. In 2015, Blair became involved in the Florida Republican Party. According to Politico, the party had spent—and reimbursed—over through his personal charge card. In 2016, he became an assistant to Richard Corcoran, the then-designate speaker of the Florida House of Representatives. In August 2016, Corcoran appointed Blair to lead external affairs within his office. In September 2018, Blair was named to the board of Enterprise Florida. Blair helped lead Corcoran's initial, unmaterialized campaign for the 2018 Florida gubernatorial election. In October 2018, he became involved with Ron DeSantis's campaign in the gubernatorial election as a senior advisor. After DeSantis's victory, Blair advised him on policy. He served as DeSantis's deputy chief of staff until his resignation in August 2019. Blair was pushed out of the DeSantis administration as DeSantis's wife Casey and other state Republicans conflicted with Wiles. Blair lead Melissa Nelson's re-election effort as the state attorney for Florida's fourth judicial circuit, and worked for Donald Trump's 2020 presidential campaign in Florida. In June 2021, Blair became a spokesman for Anna Paulina Luna. In July 2021, the conservative commentator Tudor Dixon hired Blair to help her campaign in the 2022 Michigan gubernatorial election as her lead strategist. He registered the domain name for Saving Arizona PAC, a political action committee in support of Blake Masters in the 2022 Senate election in Arizona. With Andy Surabian, Blair lead a political action committee to challenge representative Liz Cheney's re-election campaign. Concurrently, Blair worked on Luna and Cory Mills's campaigns. With Andy Surabian, he led a political action committee, American Leadership PAC, to advance representative Jim Banks's policies. Trump campaign and Republican National Committee (2022–2024) In March 2024, Blair was appointed the political director of Trump's 2024 presidential campaign. That month, Michael Whatley, the chair of the Republican National Committee, announced that Blair would served as the committee's political director; he was involved in the drafting of the committee's platform that year. Among Blair's initial responsibilities included using information gathered from working in the DeSantis administration against the governor. Blair focused on attracting low and mid-propensity voters, apolitical men, and African Americans. He coordinated a voter outreach effort intended to be run at a lower cost than the million spent on the field operation for Trump's 2020 campaign. He signed data sharing agreements with Turning Point Action and America First Works to facilitate canvassing. ==White House Deputy Chief of Staff (2025–present)==
White House Deputy Chief of Staff (2025–present)
In November 2024, The Washington Post reported that Blair was expected to be named as a White House deputy chief of staff. On November 13, Trump named Blair as his deputy chief of staff for legislative, political and public affairs. In February 2025, Politico described him as an opponent of Elon Musk's work within the federal government. With Russell Vought, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, and James Braid, the White House director of legislative affairs, he participated in budget talks with Congress in May. Blair presented Trump with plans to redraw congressional maps to favor Republicans in April, beginning a mid-decade redistricting cycle. His strategy towards Congress was described by The Wall Street Journal as aggressive; according to the Journal, outgoing Georgia representative Marjorie Taylor Greene described Blair and his associates as "dismissive" towards her. Blair reportedly discouraged New York representative Mike Lawler from running for governor in the 2026 election and Michigan representative Bill Huizenga for running in the 2026 Senate election. Blair has additionally managed the Trump administration's strategy for the broader 2026 elections. In April 2026, Trump announced that Blair would take a temporary leave of absence from his position to manage Trump's political operation for the midterms. He was succeeded by Richard Walters. ==Views==
Views
Blair has described himself as "pretty far to the right", according to The Wall Street Journal. ==Notes==
Works cited
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