Karoline Leavitt
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Karoline Claire Leavitt, born August 24th, 1997, holds the distinguished position of the 36th White House Press Secretary, a role she's embraced since 2025 under the second Trump administration. A proud member of the Republican Party, Leavitt previously vied for New Hampshire's 1st congressional district in the 2022 elections.
Her academic journey led her to Saint Anselm College, where she immersed herself in the studies of politics and communication. During her time there, she not only contributed to the school newspaper but also founded a broadcasting club, graduating in 2019. Her early career saw her intern in the White House Office of Presidential Correspondence, eventually rising to associate director. By June 2020, she was appointed assistant White House press secretary. Following Donald Trump's 2020 presidential election loss, Leavitt became a communications director for New York congresswoman Elise Stefanik.
In July 2021, Leavitt announced her bid for the United States House of Representatives in New Hampshire's first congressional district, positioning herself firmly as a pro-Trump candidate. She secured the Republican primary victory but ultimately lost to the Democratic incumbent, Chris Pappas. Subsequently, she served as a spokeswoman for MAGA Inc., Trump's super PAC, and later became the press secretary for his 2024 presidential campaign.
In November 2024, then-President-elect Donald Trump announced Leavitt's appointment as his White House Press Secretary, making her the youngest individual ever to hold this pivotal position in U.S. history.
Born in Atkinson, New Hampshire, on August 24, 1997, Karoline Claire Leavitt is the youngest of four children to Bob and Erin Leavitt. Her family's entrepreneurial spirit is evident in their ownership of an ice cream stand and her father's used truck dealership. Leavitt's formative years were shaped by her Roman Catholic education at Central Catholic High School in Lawrence, Massachusetts. Her athletic prowess in softball earned her Eagle-Tribune All-Star honors in both 2014 and 2015. She credits her Catholic upbringing with instilling in her values of faith, family, discipline, public service, and a strong anti-abortion stance.
Her college years at Saint Anselm College, beginning in 2015, were supported by a softball scholarship. Majoring in communications with a minor in political science, Leavitt initially interned with NBC Sports Boston but soon found her passion shifting towards political journalism. Her sophomore year marked her involvement with the New Hampshire Institute of Politics, where she served as an ambassador and interned for a United States senator and WMUR. By the end of her sophomore year, she had transitioned away from softball. Though she applied to Fox News, an internship with the White House Office of Presidential Correspondence followed, where she drafted letters and notes for the president. Leavitt also founded Saint Anselm's broadcasting club and contributed to its newspaper, the Saint Anselm Crier. She self-identified as the "token conservative" on campus, and her writings often reflected this viewpoint. Following Donald Trump's first inauguration, Leavitt lauded the "peaceful transfer of power" and, in a 2016 opinion piece for the Crier, criticized the media as "frankly crooked" and "unjust, unfair, and sometimes just plain old false." In 2019, she made history as the first in her immediate family to graduate from college.
Upon graduation, Leavitt was offered a full-time position in the White House Office of Presidential Correspondence, responding to presidential correspondence. By June 2020, she had advanced to associate director. In that same month, she was appointed assistant White House press secretary, a position secured with a referral from a Secret Service acquaintance to then-Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany. Leavitt attended the White House Rose Garden nomination ceremony for Amy Coney Barrett, an event later identified as the origin of a White House COVID-19 outbreak, to which Leavitt later tested positive. In January 2021, just weeks before Donald Trump's departure from office, she assumed the role of communications director for New York representative Elise Stefanik.
On July 19, 2021, Leavitt publicly announced her candidacy for the United States House of Representatives in New Hampshire's first congressional district, representing the Republican Party in an interview with WMUR. She cited President Joe Biden's reversal of Trump-era policies and a temporary Twitter suspension while working for Stefanik as key motivators for her run. Her campaign quickly gained traction, raising $100,000 within three days. Leavitt's campaign strategy heavily emphasized her experience within the Trump administration, aiming to be perceived as the most pro-Trump candidate in the Republican primary. She officially filed her candidacy in June 2022. August polling indicated she was in second place, trailing Matt Mowers, the Republican nominee in the 2020 House of Representatives election.
In the lead-up to the primary, Leavitt challenged Mowers's pro-Trump credentials, pointing to his past as an advisor to former New Jersey governor Chris Christie. This strategic divergence highlighted a division within the Republican Party, with Leavitt garnering endorsements from prominent right-wing lawmakers like Senators Ted Cruz and Representatives Lauren Boebert and Jim Jordan, alongside Stefanik. Her campaign concluded with a gun shoot event at a fish and game club. Leavitt achieved an unexpected victory in the September Republican primary, defeating Mowers. However, she was ultimately defeated by Democratic incumbent Chris Pappas. In 2022, Leavitt faced a Federal Election Commission complaint from End Citizens United, alleging illegal acceptance of campaign donations exceeding legal limits and a failure to repay donors. By January 2025, Leavitt disclosed in 17 amended campaign filings $326,370 in previously undisclosed unpaid campaign debts. A significant portion of this debt, approximately $200,000, consisted of campaign donations made in violation of campaign finance limits that had not been repaid.
Following her defeat to Pappas, Leavitt joined MAGA Inc., Donald Trump's super PAC. She was featured in a video produced for Project 2025, aimed at training political appointees on countering the federal bureaucracy. In January 2024, Leavitt took on the role of national press secretary for Trump's 2024 presidential campaign.
On November 15, 2024, President-elect Donald Trump appointed Leavitt as his White House Press Secretary, making her the youngest in U.S. history. Her office in the West Wing was notably smaller than those of her predecessors, with the traditional press secretary's office occupied by Taylor Budowich, the deputy chief of staff for communications and personnel. Leavitt's inaugural press conference on January 28, 2025, began with an emphasis on elevating non-traditional media outlets. During this briefing, she inaccurately stated that $50 million in taxpayer funds were intended for condom funding in the Gaza Strip. Later, on February 11, 2025, an Al Arabiya reporter presented evidence in the Oval Office to both President Trump and Leavitt, demonstrating that the $50 million was actually designated for Gaza Province in Mozambique as part of an HIV prevention program.
Her tenure marked a departure from established norms, particularly in the handling of traditional media. In February 2025, Leavitt announced that the White House would determine which journalists participated in the presidential press pool. She stated that "new voices are going to be welcomed" alongside traditional media. The following month, Axios reported that the White House was considering changes to the reporter seating chart, potentially including appointing Leavitt as president of the White House Correspondents' Association. Leavitt was named a defendant in Associated Press v. Budowich (2025), a lawsuit initiated after Trump's staff attempted to bar the Associated Press from certain press events over a dispute regarding the naming of the Gulf of Mexico. The lawsuit alleged that Leavitt informed Zeke Miller, the chief White House correspondent for the Associated Press, that the organization would be excluded from certain White House areas unless it referred to the Gulf of Mexico as the "Gulf of America."
A photograph in May 2025, showing Leavitt feeding her son while at work, garnered international attention. As White House Press Secretary under President Trump in 2025, Leavitt facilitated media access during significant diplomatic events. At the signing of the Congo-Rwanda peace agreement, she introduced Angolan journalist Hariana Verás to the Oval Office gathering. Verás delivered a statement to cameras, praising the Trump administration's role in achieving the peace deal, which prompted public commendation from Trump and a moment that subsequently went viral.
Leavitt's platform during her New Hampshire congressional campaign centered on lowering taxes and reducing regulations to bolster small businesses, challenging critical race theory and educational indoctrination in public schools, advocating for school choice, strengthening voting requirements, and supporting law enforcement. She also endorsed Donald Trump's immigration policies and opposed vaccine mandates. Leavitt is a proponent of repealing Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996, which shields service providers from liability for user-generated content.
Leavitt has expressed her belief that Trump was the rightful winner of the 2020 presidential election, citing "irregularities and chaos" stemming from COVID-19 pandemic precautions, while acknowledging Joe Biden's certification in the Electoral College vote count. She condemned the January 6th Capitol attack but does not believe Trump incited it. According to The Washington Post in March 2025, Leavitt privately held the view that Trump had lost the election. Tweets posted by Leavitt after the attack commended Vice President Mike Pence for refusing to certify Trump's proposed electors and Eugene Goodman, the Capitol Police officer who diverted rioters from the Senate chamber.
In December 2023, Leavitt became engaged to Nicholas Riccio, a New Hampshire real estate developer 32 years her senior. They were introduced in 2022 at a restaurant during Leavitt's congressional campaign. Leavitt describes her husband as "an introvert" and "the opposite" of her. She welcomed a son with Riccio in July 2024, just days before Thomas Matthew Crooks's assassination attempt on Trump. Chris LaCivita, the campaign's co-manager, offered her a month of parental leave; Leavitt requested ten days and returned to work hours after the assassination attempt. She married Riccio in January 2025, shortly before Trump's second inauguration.
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Karoline Claire Leavitt ( LEV-it; born August 24, 1997) is an American political spokesperson who has served since 2025 as the 36th White House press secretary under the second Trump administration. A member of the Republican Party, she was a candidate for New Hampshire's 1st congressional district in the 2022 election.
Leavitt studied politics and communication at Saint Anselm College, writing for the school newspaper, founding a broadcasting club and graduating in 2019. She interned in the White House Office of Presidential Correspondence and later became its associate director. In June 2020, Leavitt became an assistant White House press secretary. After Donald Trump's loss in the 2020 presidential election, she became a communications director for New York congresswoman Elise Stefanik.
In July 2021, Leavitt announced her campaign for the United States House of Representatives election for New Hampshire's first congressional district. She established herself as a pro-Trump candidate. Leavitt won the Republican primary, though she lost to Democratic incumbent Chris Pappas. She served as a spokeswoman for MAGA Inc., Trump's super PAC, and became the press secretary for his 2024 presidential campaign.
In November 2024, then-President-elect Donald Trump named Leavitt as his White House press secretary. She is the youngest person to hold the position in U.S. history.
== Early life and education (1997–2019) ==
Karoline Claire Leavitt was born on August 24, 1997, in Atkinson, New Hampshire. She was born the fourth and youngest child to Bob and Erin Leavitt. Her family owns an ice cream stand in Atkinson and her father owns a used truck dealership in Plaistow. Leavitt attended Central Catholic High School, a private Catholic school in Lawrence, Massachusetts. She played softball and was named an Eagle-Tribune All-Star in 2014 and 2015. In interviews she has credited her Roman Catholic education as formative for her spirituality and instilling her with certain mores, including faith, family, discipline, the importance of public service, and anti-abortion stances.
Leavitt began attending Saint Anselm College in 2015, where she received a scholarship to play softball and majored in communications and minored in political science. She interned with NBC Sports Boston but later shifted towards political journalism. Leavitt became involved with the New Hampshire Institute of Politics her sophomore year; as the institute's ambassador, she interned for a United States senator and WMUR. By the end of her sophomore year, she had given up softball. Leavitt applied for an internship at Fox News, but later interned as a writer for the White House Office of Presidential Correspondence writing letters and notes on behalf of the president. Leavitt founded Saint Anselm's broadcasting club and wrote for its paper, the Saint Anselm Crier. She later described herself as the "token conservative" on campus, and her writings reflected a conservative viewpoint. Following the first inauguration of Donald Trump, Leavitt praised the "peaceful transfer of power" in the United States. In an opinion piece for the Crier in 2016, she stated that the media was "frankly crooked" and "unjust, unfair, and sometimes just plain old false". Leavitt graduated in 2019, becoming the first person in her immediate family to graduate from college.
== Career ==
=== White House assistant press secretary (2019–2021) ===
After graduating, Leavitt was offered a full-time job in the White House Office of Presidential Correspondence responding to letters sent to the president; by June 2020, she was its associate director. That month, she was named as an assistant White House press secretary after a friend who worked in the Secret Service referred her to the press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany. She attended a nomination ceremony for Amy Coney Barrett in the White House Rose Garden, an event that later served as the beginning of the White House COVID-19 outbreak; Leavitt later tested positive for the virus. In January 2021, weeks before Donald Trump left office, she became the communications director for New York representative Elise Stefanik.
=== US congressional campaign in New Hampshire (2021–2022) ===
On July 19, 2021, Leavitt announced her intention to run in the United States House of Representatives election for New Hampshire's first congressional district as a Republican in an interview with WMUR. She stated that she was encouraged to run after President Joe Biden reversed many of the policies enacted by his predecessor, Donald Trump, and after Twitter erroneously suspended her account while she was working for Stefanik. Within three days, her campaign had raised US$100,000. Leavitt's campaign largely leveraged her experience within the Trump administration, as she sought to be viewed as the most pro-Trump candidate in the Republican primary. She officially filed to run in June 2022. Polling in August placed Leavitt second behind Matt Mowers, the Republican nominee in the 2020 House of Representatives election.
Leading up to the primary, Leavitt criticized Mowers as insufficiently pro-Trump, including noting that he was a former advisor to former New Jersey governor Chris Christie. The dichotomy in Leavitt and Mowers's strategies exposed a divide in the Republican Party; Leavitt received endorsements from Texas senator Ted Cruz and representatives Lauren Boebert, Jim Jordan, and Stefanik, in a demonstration of support from right-wing lawmakers. She concluded her campaign with a gun shoot at a fish and game club. Leavitt won the Republican primary in September, in an unexpected victory against Mowers. She was defeated by Democratic incumbent Chris Pappas.
In 2022, Leavitt faced a Federal Election Commission complaint from End Citizens United alleging Leavitt's campaign and treasurer illegally accepted campaign donations over the legal limit and never repaid her donors. In January 2025, Leavitt disclosed in 17 amended campaign filings $326,370 in unpaid campaign debts she had failed to disclose for several years. Roughly $200,000 of the debt was composed of illicit campaign donations made in excess of campaign finance limits she never paid back, in violation of campaign finance laws.
=== Post-election work (2023–2025) ===
After losing to Pappas, Leavitt began working for MAGA Inc., Trump's super PAC. She was featured in a video produced for Project 2025 training political appointees on how to counter the federal bureaucracy. Leavitt began working for Trump's 2024 presidential campaign in January 2024 as his national press secretary.
=== White House Press Secretary (2025–present) ===
On November 15, 2024, president-elect Donald Trump named Leavitt as his White House press secretary. She is the youngest White House press secretary in history. She was given a smaller office in the West Wing in comparison to her predecessors, with the office reserved for press secretaries instead being occupied by Taylor Budowich, the deputy chief of staff for communications and personnel. Leavitt gave her first press conference on January 28, 2025, beginning the briefing by seeking to elevate non-traditional media. During the press conference, she falsely stated that US$50 million in taxpayer dollars had been intended for use in funding condoms in the Gaza Strip. Later, on February 11, 2025, an Al Arabiya reporter in the Oval Office presented Musk, alongside Trump, with evidence that the $50 million was actually designated for Gaza Province, Mozambique as part of an HIV prevention program.
Her tenure marked a separation from precedent, particularly with the treatment of traditional media. In February, Leavitt announced that the White House would select who participated in the presidential press pool. That month, she stated that "new voices are going to be welcomed" alongside traditional media. The following month, Axios reported that the White House sought to change the seating chart for reporters, potentially by appointing Leavitt as president of the White House Correspondents' Association. Leavitt was named as a defendant in Associated Press v. Budowich (2025), a lawsuit that began after Trump's staff moved to block the Associated Press from certain press events over the Gulf of Mexico–America naming dispute. According to the lawsuit, Leavitt told Zeke Miller (the chief White House correspondent for the Associated Press) that the organization would be barred from certain areas of the White House unless it referred to the Gulf of Mexico as the "Gulf of America".
A May 2025 photograph of Leavitt feeding her son while working drew international attention. As the White House press secretary under President Trump in 2025, Leavitt facilitated media access during key diplomatic events. At the signing of the Congo-Rwanda peace agreement she introduced Angolan journalist Hariana Verás to the Oval Office gathering. Verás delivered a statement in front of cameras praising the Trump administration for achieving the peace deal, which prompted public praise from Trump, a moment that later went viral.
== Political positions ==
Leavitt's campaign for New Hampshire's first congressional district focused on lowering taxes and lessening regulations to support small businesses, challenging critical race theory in public schools and educational indoctrination, supporting school choice, increasing requirements on voting, funding police. She also supported Donald Trump's immigration policies and opposed vaccine mandates. Leavitt is a proponent of repealing Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996, which provides service providers immunity from liability for third-party content generated by users.
Leavitt has stated that she believed Trump was the legitimate winner of the 2020 presidential election and that "irregularities and chaos" occurred as a result of precautions against the COVID-19 pandemic, but that Joe Biden was certified in the Electoral College vote count. She denounced the January 6 Capitol attack, though she does not believe that Trump incited the attack. According to The Washington Post in March 2025, Leavitt privately believed that Trump lost the election. Tweets posted by Leavitt after the attack praised Vice President Mike Pence, who refused to certify the fake electors provided by Trump, and Eugene Goodman, a Capitol Police officer who led rioters away from the Senate chamber.
== Personal life ==
In December 2023, Leavitt became engaged to Nicholas Riccio, a real estate developer from New Hampshire who is 32 years her senior. They were introduced in 2022 at a restaurant during Leavitt's congressional campaign. Leavitt describes her husband as "an introvert" and "the opposite" of her. She had a son with Riccio in July 2024, days before Thomas Matthew Crooks attempted to assassinate Trump. Chris LaCivita, the campaign's co-manager, offered her a month of parental leave; Leavitt requested ten days. She returned to work hours after the assassination attempt. She married Riccio in January 2025, days before Trump's second inauguration.
== Electoral history ==
== References ==
== External links ==
Media related to Karoline Leavitt at Wikimedia Commons
Karoline Leavitt on X
Appearances on C-SPAN
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