The former campaign manager to Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s presidential bid has joined Donald Trump’s White House campaign.
Rick Wiley, a GOP strategist with deep ties to the Republican Party, is joining the campaign as its national political director, deepening its bench of veteran GOP operatives with national political experience.
“Rick is a seasoned political expert with a very successful career in winning elections,” Trump said in a statement. “He brings decades of experience, and his deep ties to political leaders and activists across the country will be a tremendous asset as we enter the final phase of securing the nomination.”
In the same statement, Wiley said, “Voters are frustrated with the political status quo in our country and are hungry for an outsider to shake up Washington. Donald Trump has energized millions of hard working people across the country with his no-nonsense straight talk and will bring his record of success to tackle the real problems that face our nation.”
Wiley’s hire was first reported Wednesday by The Washington Post.
The move comes as Trump is retooling his campaign’s strategy to conduct a more targeted approach to clinching the 1,237 delegates needed to secure the Republican nomination and avoid a brokered convention.
Wiley is expected to help bolster the campaign’s field operations, blunting criticism that Trump’s ground game has been too weak.
He previously served as the Republican National Committee’s national political director and worked as a consultant for the Republican Governors Association and National Republican Senatorial Committee.
The hire is just the latest of Trump’s decisions to expand his small circle of aides and add established Republican operatives with years of national political experience.
Trump late last month hired longtime Republican insider Paul Manafort and quickly expanded his responsibilities to oversee the campaign’s delegate-focused strategy and expand the campaign’s Washington, D.C. outreach.