The Republican National Committee’s top communications strategist will remain with the organization through 2016, providing a sense of continuity on messaging heading into the contested race for the GOP presidential nomination.
RNC Chairman Reince Priebus will announce on Monday that Sean Spicer has been named chief strategist for the national party — expanding on his role as communications director.
“Under Sean’s leadership the RNC communications team has become the gold standard of political communications,” Priebus will say in a statement that is expected to be released later in the day. CNN received an advanced copy of the statement.
Spicer, a veteran of Capitol Hill and the Bush administration, has led messaging for the committee since 2011 and has overseen the conceptualization and implementation of the 2016 RNC-sanctioned presidential primary debates.
In his new role, Spicer will work with the RNC chief of staff and counsel on state conventions, primaries, caucuses and the 2016 Cleveland convention as well as continue to oversee messaging between the national and state parties. He will also remain in the key liaison role between the national party, the television networks and the individual candidates regarding the primary debates.
News of Spicer’s promotion comes less than one week after Priebus named Katie Walsh, the RNC’s finance director, as his new chief of staff and announced several moves in the committee’s digital and data shop.