President Trump has tapped the digital strategist on his presidential campaign to head up his reelection efforts in 2020.
Brad Parscale will be in charge of advanced planning and will run point for the campaign to help GOP candidates in the mid-term elections.
“The Trump campaign will be engaged in the 2018 midterm elections this year, providing candidates with general support, endorsements, and rallying the support of the political grassroots by engaging Trump supporters in districts and states,” it said in a statement on Tuesday.
Trump’s son-in-law and White House adviser Jared Kushner praised Parscale for his online know-how.
“Brad was essential in bringing a disciplined technology and data-driven approach to how the 2016 campaign was run. His leadership and expertise will help build a best-in-class campaign,” he said in the statement.
Trump filed a letter of intent to run for a second term on Jan. 20, 2017, the day of his inauguration.
Parscale first came to work at the Trump Organization in 2011 as a digital strategist.
The Kansas native is credited with bolstering the Trump campaign’s presence on social media and for increasing funding via online contributions, but he was also criticized for using “dark posts” during the election, including spreading a video from 1996 in which Hillary Clinton was talking about “super predators,” in an effort to discredit her among black voters.
Parscale, in an interview last year with CBS’s “60 Minutes,” said he also used sophisticated posts on Facebook, which he called the “500 pound gorilla,” and other platforms to target specific audiences and energize them around issues backed by Trump.
He was summoned last year to appear before the House Intelligence Committee investigating Russian meddling in the 2016 election and any collusion by associates of the Trump campaign.
He has denied that the campaign used information supplied by the Russians to disrupt the campaign.
Parscale’s Texas-based company was paid $94 million by the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee in 2016.
With Post wires