 |
| Moi and Reince Preibus at RNC Gala 2011 in Washington,D.c. |
"Reince" Priebus[1] (/ˌraɪns ˈpriːbəs/ ryns pree-bəs;[2] born March 18, 1972) is an American
attorney and politician who is Chairman of the Republican National
Committee and the White House Chief of
Staff designate named by President-elect Donald Trump to
the post once Trump takes office in January 2017.[3] He has previously served as RNC
general counsel, and is the former chairman of the Republican Party of Wisconsin, where he is credited with helping to bring
nationally known figures such as Paul Ryan, Speaker of the House, and Scott Walker, Governor of
Wisconsin, into power on the state level and prominence on the
national stage.[4][5]
Reinhold Richard
Priebus was born on March 18, 1972 in Dover, New Jersey, and lived in Netcong, New Jersey,
until his family moved to Green Bay, Wisconsin,
when he was seven years old.[6] His father is a former union
electrician and his mother a real estate agent. Some sources, including his
biography on the Republican Party website, identify his parents' names as
"Richard and Dimitra", with "Roula" as a nickname for his
mother.[1][7][8][9] His father is of German descent
and his mother, who was born in Sudan,
is of Greek descent.[10][11]
At 16, he
volunteered for several political campaigns in high school.[12] After graduating from high
school, he attended the University
of Wisconsin–Whitewater, where he majored in English and political science,[13] and joined the Delta Chi fraternity.[14]Priebus graduated cum laude in
1994 and prior to that had been elected to serve as student body president[15] and was president of the
College Republicans.[16]
After graduation
from Whitewater, Priebus served as a clerk for the Wisconsin State
Assembly Education Committee.[13] He then enrolled at the University
of Miami School of Law in Coral Gables, Florida.[13] While studying for his law
degree, he worked as a clerk for the Wisconsin Court
of Appeals, the Wisconsin Supreme
Court, and the United States District Court for the Southern District of
Florida,[7] and also interned at the NAACP
Legal Defense Fund in California.[17]
In 1998, he
graduated with a J.D. degree cum
laude from the University of Miami after
serving as president of the Law School Student Body.[12] He moved back to Wisconsin and
became a member of the State Bar.[13] Subsequently, he joined
Wisconsin law firmMichael
Best & Friedrich LLP, where he became a partner in
2006,[13][8] practicing in the firm's litigation
and corporate practice groups.[18] While working at Michael Best
& Friedrich, he was named as one of Wisconsin Super Lawyers magazine's
"Rising Stars" in 2008[8] and was included in the Milwaukee
Business Journal's "40 Under 40" list, also in 2008.[12][18]
Political
career
He ran for election
to the Wisconsin State
Senate in 2004 but lost to the Democratic incumbent, Robert Wirch.[19] In 2007, following a
successful campaign, he was elected chairman of the Wisconsin
Republican Party.[7] He was the youngest person to
have held that role.[20] Two years later, in 2009, he
also became the general counsel for the Republican National Committee.[7][21]
As chairman of the Wisconsin
Republican Party, Priebus led the party to success in the November 2010
elections in Wisconsin, which was previously a state held by the
Democratic Party.[22] The party won control of the
State Senate and Assembly, and a Republican candidate was elected Governor.[22][23] In particular, his work to
bring Wisconsin's Tea Party movement together
with the mainstream Republican party organization, and avoid conflict between
the two, was credited by commentators as contributing to the party's success.[22][24] Following the success of the
2010 elections, Priebus, together with Paul Ryan and Scott Walker,
became known as part of a rising Republican movement in Wisconsin that was
influential on the national level and focused on conservative ideologies,
particularly fiscal conservatism.[24][5][25]
Priebus continued
as Wisconsin party chairman and general counsel to the RNC to late 2010,[23] when he stepped down as
general counsel to run for election to chairman of the committee.[21]
2011 RNC chairmanship election
On December 5,
2010, Priebus stepped down as general counsel for the Republican National
Committee (RNC). The next day he sent a letter to all 168 voting members
of the RNC announcing his candidacy for chairman. Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker supported
Priebus' bid from the beginning, attributing the party's victories in Wisconsin
to "Priebus' leadership and involvement in the grassroots Tea Party movement that
swept the state and the nation".[26] Priebus told delegates in his
letter: "I will keep expenses low. I will put in strong and serious
controls. We will raise the necessary funds to make sure we are successful. We
will work to regain the confidence of our donor base and I will personally call
our major donors to ask them to rejoin our efforts at the RNC."[27]
Priebus in May 2010
On January 14,
2011, after seven rounds of voting, Priebus was elected chairman of the
Republican National Committee.[28]
