Brad Parscale (born January 3, 1976) is an American digital consultant, media executive, and political advisor. He served as the senior adviser for data and digital operations for Donald Trump's 2020 presidential campaign. He previously served as the digital media director for Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign and as

campaign manager A campaign manager, campaign chairperson, or campaign director is an individual whose role is to coordinate a political campaign's spending, broad tactics, and hiring. They lead operations such as Campaign finance, fundraising, advertising, Opi ...

for Donald Trump's 2020 presidential campaign from February 2018 to July 2020, being replaced by Bill Stepien. In September 2020, he stepped away from his company and the Trump campaign. Parscale began working for the

Trump Organization Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the 45th president from 2017 to 2021. ...

in 2011, developing and designing websites and creating and managing digital media strategies. In early 2015, Trump hired Parscale and his firm, Giles-Parscale, to create a website for his exploratory campaign. When Trump declared himself a Republican candidate in 2015, he asked Parscale to update the exploratory campaign site into a "full-fledged presidential campaign website." Throughout the Republican primary, Parscale was responsible on behalf of Trump for managing the website, as well as digital media strategies and online fundraising campaigns. In June 2016, Parscale was officially named digital media director for the Trump for President campaign, overseeing all aspects of digital media and online fundraising, as well as traditional media strategy, like radio and television placements. In January 2017, Parscale, along with senior Trump aide Nick Ayers, launched America First Policies, an organization to promote President Trump's agenda and White House initiatives. In 2025, Parscale was named Chief Strategy Officer of

Salem Media Group Salem Media Group, Inc. (formerly Salem Communications Corporation) is an American radio broadcaster, internet content provider, and magazine and book publisher based in Irving, Texas, targeting audiences interested in Christian values and wh ...

Early life and education

Parscale was born in

Topeka, Kansas Topeka ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Shawnee County. It is along the Kansas River in the central part of Shawnee County, in northeastern Kansas, in the Central United States. As of the 2020 cen ...

. His father, Dwight Parscale, was an assistant attorney general in Kansas who ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 1974 at age 28 as a Democrat. Dwight Parscale owned a restaurant and operated a string of other businesses over the years, with Brad's mother, Rita. In the 1990s, Dwight Parscale was the CEO of

NewTek NewTek, Inc., is a San Antonio, Texasbased hardware and software company that produced live and post-production video tools and visual imaging software for personal computers. The company was founded in 1985 in Topeka, Kansas, United States, by ...

, a computer products company. Parscale, who is , played basketball at Shawnee Heights High School in

Tecumseh, Kansas Tecumseh is a census-designated place (CDP) in Shawnee County, Kansas, United States, and situated along the Kansas River. As of the 2020 census, the population was 696. The community and township are both named for the Shawnee chief. Hist ...

, graduating in 1994. He then attended two junior colleges, playing basketball well enough to get an athletic scholarship at the

University of Texas at San Antonio The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA or UT San Antonio) is a Public university, public research university in San Antonio, Texas, United States. Established in 1969, Parscale left UT-San Antonio after one year; a knee injury cost him his sports scholarship. He transferred to Trinity University, also in San Antonio, where he earned a bachelor's degree in finance, international business and economics, graduating in 1999.

Career

Early years

Parscale moved to

Orange County, California Orange County (officially the County of Orange; often initialized O.C.) is a county (United States), county located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area in Southern California, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the population ...

, following graduation from college, to work for his father, then the CEO of animation-software company Electric Image; Parscale worked as the sales manager. The company filed for bankruptcy in August 2002, and Parscale and his parents returned to San Antonio.Peter Elkind with Doris Burke
The Myths of the “Genius” Behind Trump’s Reelection Campaign
Sept. 11, 2019

ProPublica ProPublica (), legally Pro Publica, Inc., is a nonprofit investigative journalism organization based in New York City. ProPublica's investigations are conducted by its staff of full-time reporters, and the resulting stories are distributed to ne ...

Electric Image animation software was reconstituted as Electric Image Animation System 3D (eias3d.com). In San Antonio, Parscale became a website developer. In October 2005, he incorporated his website business, which mostly produced simple websites for brick-and-mortar businesses in the area. Parscale has said that he started the company with an initial investment of $500; real estate records show that he owned three San Antonio homes at the time.

Giles–Parscale

After Parscale worked on several projects with graphic and web designer Jill Giles (who had her own small firm), the company Giles–Parscale was formed in July 2011. In early 2013, Parscale was also running another company, DevDemon, which marketed add-ons for web development; in a technology investment partnership (Turner Parscale LLC); and was involved in a physical therapy business. By May 2015, Giles-Parscale owned a 18,000 square foot building and had 46 employees and 800 clients. In April 2012, the company was hired to build a website for Trump International Realty, after a deliberately low bid of $10,000. That led to further work in the Trump family: Trump Winery, the Eric Trump Foundation, and Caviar Complexe,

Melania Trump Melania Knauss Trump (born Melanija Knavs, April26, 1970) is a Slovenian and American former model who is married to U.S. President Donald Trump. Since 2025, Melania Trump has served as the first lady of the United States, a role she previous ...

's line of skin-care products. It also led to the firm's extensive work for the

Donald Trump 2016 presidential campaign Donald Trump ran a successful campaign for the 2016 U.S. presidential election. He formally announced his campaign on June 16, 2015, at Trump Tower in New York City, initially battling for the Republican Party's nomination. On May 26, 20 ...

, and Parscale becoming the campaign's digital director. In mid-2017, Parscale spun off his political work to a new company, Parscale Strategy, and relocated that business to Florida. In August 2017, the remaining company operations were purchased by

CloudCommerce CloudCommerce, Inc., is a company based in the United States which provides digital marketing and analytics solutions. The company was traded OTC Pink as CLWD, but has since been renamed to AiAdvertising, trading as AiAd. History The company bega ...

, a penny-stock firm, in a deal valued at $9 million in stock, and were renamed Parscale Digital. CloudCommerce also acquired San Antonio-based Parscale Media, but not Florida-based Parscale Strategy; Parscale became a member of the CloudCommerce board of directors. In June 2018, Giles Design Bureau was broken out as a separate entity, run by Giles, with a staff of 15; Giles remained a major stockholder in CloudCommerce.

2016 Donald Trump presidential campaign

In early 2015, Parscale's firm, Giles-Parscale, was hired to create a website for Donald Trump's exploratory campaign, charging $1,500 (~$ in ) for the work. Between October and December 2015, Giles-Parscale was paid $21,000 (~$ in ) by the Trump campaign. Through the entire election cycle, Giles-Parscale was paid $94 million by the Trump campaign, much of which was used to pay for advertising and subcontractors. In 2016, Parscale was named the campaign's digital director. Parscale used social media advertisements with an experiment-based strategy of different face expressions, font colors, and slogans like "

Basket of Deplorables "Basket of deplorables" is a pejorative phrase from a 2016 US presidential election campaign speech delivered by Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton on September 9, 2016, at a campaign fundraising event. She used the phrase to describe "half" o ...

." Parscale's specific roles included heading the oversight of the digital advertising, television advertising, small dollar fundraising, direct mail, political and advertising budget, and liaising with Katie Walsh, who was then the Republican National Committee's chief of staff. He was also the head of data science and research, which included polling. Parscale heavily used employees from

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

Google Google LLC (, ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company focusing on online advertising, search engine technology, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, consumer electronics, and artificial ...

, and other platforms for the campaign advertisements and embedded them on his staff to navigate the Facebook, Twitter, and Google platforms so that his staff could utilize all capabilities of these platforms. He denied having any assistance linked to Russia. Parscale did not have data scientists or any digital team during the Republican primary and did much of the social media advertising from his own home. Parscale was able to utilize Facebook advertising to directly target individual voters in

swing states In United States politics, a swing state (also known as battleground state, toss-up state, or purple state) is any state that could reasonably be won by either the Democratic or Republican candidate in a statewide election, most often refe ...

. Parscale later said that he was able to target specific audiences who cared about infrastructure and promoted Trump and his message of improving American infrastructure. Although he hired

Cambridge Analytica Cambridge Analytica Ltd. (CA), previously known as SCL USA, was a British political consulting firm that came to prominence through the Facebook–Cambridge Analytica data scandal. It was started in 2013, as a subsidiary of the private intell ...

to assist with

microtargeting Microtargeting is the use of online data to tailor advertising messages to individuals, based on the identification of recipients’ personal vulnerabilities. Such tactics can be used for promoting a product or a political candidate. Direct market ...

and Cambridge Analytica stated that it was the key to Trump's victory, Parscale denied that he gained assistance from the firm because he thinks that Cambridge Analytica's use of

psychographics Psychographics is defined as "market research or statistics classifying population groups according to psychological variables" The term psychographics is derived from the words "psychological" and "demographics" Two common approaches to psychogr ...

doesn't work. Parscale also said: "I understood early that Facebook was how Donald Trump was going to win. Twitter is how he talked to the people. Facebook was going to be how he won." The Trump campaign initially had solely Donald Trump's personal funding to back his campaign. Parscale set up a major grassroots campaign on Facebook that brought in funding quickly from across the U.S. Parscale attributed the success of his vast social media presence to using the assistance offered by companies such as Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, and Google. He said that because the Trump campaign intended to spend $100 million on social media, companies in that area were prepared to assist the campaign in using that money effectively. ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' later wrote that, in light of Trump's narrow electoral margin, Parscale could "justifiably take credit" for his victory. Brad Parscale by Gage Skidmore

The database of voter information that drove Parscale's social media advertising campaigns in the 2016 election was dubbed " Project Alamo", a name which eventually encompassed all of the associated fundraising and political advertising efforts.

2020 Donald Trump presidential campaign

On February 27, 2018, President Trump named Parscale his 2020 re-election campaign manager. On March 2, 2018, Parscale founded "firewall company" Red State Data and Digital to allow working with the America First super PAC during the

midterm elections Apart from general elections and by-elections, a midterm election refers to a type of election where the people can elect their representatives and other subnational officeholders (e.g. governor, members of local council) in the middle of the te ...

, which Parscale said did not violate election rules prohibiting coordination between a campaign and a super PAC. Red State received more than $900,000 in business from America First Action. On August 30, 2019,

CNN Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...

reported that a

pro-Trump Trumpism, also referred to as the Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement, is the political movement and political ideology, ideology behind U.S. president Donald Trump and his political base. It comprises ideologies such as right-wing p ...

super PAC paid thousands to a company owned by Parscale's wife. In March 2020, ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' reported that Parscale was paying $15,000 (~$ in ) a month to

Lara Trump Lara Lea Trump ( Yunaska; born October 12, 1982) is an American political figure who is the former co-chair of the Republican National Committee. She is married to Eric Trump, the third child of U.S. President Donald Trump. She was the producer ...

and

Kimberly Guilfoyle Kimberly Ann Guilfoyle ( ; born March 9, 1969) is an American television news personality and former prosecutor in San Francisco and Los Angeles. She served as an advisor and led the fundraising division of President Donald Trump's 2020 presid ...

, the wife and girlfriend respectively of Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., for campaign work. On April 29, 2020, CNN reported that Trump was angry with Parscale about low poll numbers. In June 2020, while working to get supporters to an upcoming campaign rally with President Trump in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Parscale reported that he had received over 800,000 requests for tickets to the event, according to ''

The Washington Times ''The Washington Times'' is an American Conservatism, conservative daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It covers general interest topics with an emphasis on Politics of the United States, national politics. Its broadsheet daily edit ...

''. Despite this claim, many seats remained empty at the 19,000-seat arena. The Tulsa fire marshal estimated that fewer than 6,200 attended. In December 2020, ''

Politico ''Politico'' (stylized in all caps), known originally as ''The Politico'', is an American political digital newspaper company founded by American banker and media executive Robert Allbritton in 2007. It covers politics and policy in the Unit ...

'' named Parscale's predictions for the size of the rally among "the most audacious, confident and spectacularly incorrect prognostications about the year". On July 15, 2020, Trump tweeted that Parscale would be replaced in the role of campaign manager by Bill Stepien, but that Parscale would continue to advise the campaign. Parscale's spending decisions for the Trump campaign were questioned after his departure as campaign manager. By that time, more than $800,000 had been spent by the Trump campaign on boosting Parscale's social media pages, and $39 million had been paid to two companies owned by Parscale. The campaign also purchased ads which appeared to be intended to please Trump himself, including more than $1 million in ads for the Washington, D.C., media market. Parscale was the only one of Trump's first four campaign managers to give Trump's campaign a maximum contribution for the 2020 election. ''The New York Times'' reported that Parscale "was often the subject of unproven accusations from his colleagues — as well as Mr. Trump — that he was pocketing money from the campaign." On September 30, 2020, Parscale provided a statement to ''

'' announcing that he was "stepping away from my company and any role in the campaign for the immediate future to focus on my family and get help dealing with the overwhelming stress"; campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh confirmed the statement.

Post-2020 election activities

Following the election, Parscale criticized the Trump campaign's strategy following his removal as campaign manager. He argued that Trump's response to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

ultimately led to his defeat, but echoed Trump's claims of voter fraud as a factor. After the election, Parscale turned to real estate flipping, restarted his political consulting firm, and formed a data analysis

startup A startup or start-up is a company or project undertaken by an entrepreneur to seek, develop, and validate a scalable business model. While entrepreneurship includes all new businesses including self-employment and businesses that do not intend to ...

. In October 2021, he was working for the 2022 Ohio gubernatorial campaign of former Republican congressman

Jim Renacci James B. Renacci ( ; born December 3, 1958) is an American accountant, businessman, and politician who served as the U.S. representative for from 2011 to 2019. A member of the Republican Party, he is a former city council president and two-ter ...

against incumbent Republican Governor

Mike DeWine Richard Michael DeWine ( ; born January 5, 1947) is an American politician and attorney serving as the 70th List of governors of Ohio, governor of Ohio since 2019. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served a ...

Reaction to January 6th attack on the United States Capitol

On July 12, 2022, the 7th hearing of the

United States House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack The United States House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol (commonly referred to as the January 6th Committee) was a Select or special committee (United States Congress), select committee of the ...

reported that after the attack, Parscale exchanged text messages with senior campaign advisor and "Save America" rally liaison Katrina Pierson. In these messages, Parscale equated Donald Trump's rhetoric with fomenting civil war and blamed his former boss for the death of supporter Ashli Babbitt. He expressed remorse for helping him become President: One month later, Parscale tweeted the following message to his Twitter followers, but addressed it directly to the ex-President:

Personal life

Parscale became a father in July 1999, several weeks after graduating from college. His daughter's mother was a 22-year-old woman whom he had met while she was working at a San Antonio tanning salon. The couple married in March 2003. Parscale filed for divorce in August 2004; the divorce was finalized in October 2007. In the summer of 2012, he married Candice Blount. The couple had a twin son and daughter who were born in 2016, but died shortly thereafter. On September 27, 2020, Parscale was hospitalized after his wife told Fort Lauderdale police that he had guns and he was threatening to harm himself; upon arriving at Parscale's home, an officer reported that Parscale appeared to be distraught and under the influence of alcohol. Officers seized 10 firearms from the home and reported that Parscale's wife had cuts and bruises on her arms and face, which she said Parscale had inflicted earlier in the week, though she later said that her statements had been "misconstrued" and denied that Parscale had been violent toward her. Parscale was detained and involuntarily committed and psychiatrically examined under terms of the Baker Act. No charges were filed related to the incident, though a judge ordered Parscale to turn over his firearms, which he did. ''Politico'' reported that the couple had shared that they had felt distressed since the 2016 death of their prematurely born twins.

References

External links

Giles–ParscaleAmericafirstpolicies.orgTechBloc
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Parscale, Brad 1976 births American campaign managers American people of English descent Donald Trump 2016 presidential campaign Donald Trump 2020 presidential campaign Kansas Republicans Living people People associated with the 2016 United States presidential election People associated with Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections People from Topeka, Kansas Trinity University (Texas) alumni