Taylor Budowich

Taylor Anthony Budowich (born November 3, 1990) is an American political consultant who has served as the White House deputy chief of staff for communications and personnel since 2025.

Budowich attended the American University in Cairo, but evacuated during the 2011 Egyptian revolution. He had interned for representative Doris Matsui and Sacramento mayor Heather Fargo, later joining Tea Party Express, an organization established to support the Tea Party movement. He had become the organization's spokesperson by the following year, its communication director the year after that, and its executive director by 2014. Budowich led the organization's national bus tours and organized rallies in support of amenable senators and representatives. In September 2017, he began working for Watchdog PAC, a political action committee for Richard Corcoran, the speaker of the Florida House of Representatives. Budowich later worked for Ron DeSantis in his campaign in the 2018 Florida gubernatorial election and served as DeSantis's deputy policy director for education.

Budowich served as a spokesperson for Donald Trump's 2020 presidential campaign. After Trump's loss in that year's presidential election, he advised political campaigns. In 2022, Budowich began working as a spokesperson for Save America, a political action committee in support of Trump, and was named as the executive director of MAGA Inc., a political action committee with the same goal, that year. In August 2024, he directly served within Trump's 2024 presidential campaign. In November, Trump named Budowich as his deputy chief of staff for communications and personnel.

Taylor Anthony Budowich^[1] was born on November 3, 1990,^[2] in Sacramento, California.^[3] Budowich was born with a diaphragmatic hernia and immediately had two surgeries. He was the first child of Kirk and Jeannine Budowich.^[2][a] Kirk was a washer and dryer repairman, while Jeannine is a bookkeeper and administrator.^[3] By October 1999, the Budowiches were living in North Sacramento. Budowich attended St. Philomene School, a Catholic school, and volunteered for Jesuit High School as an equipment manager. He participated in taekwondo; after winning a Nintendo video game console for bringing in new students to his karate program, Budowich donated the system to Ronald McDonald House Charities.^[2] Kirk died when Budowich was 17. Budowich attended El Camino Fundamental High School in Arden-Arcade and later the American University in Cairo. He was forced to evacuate during the 2011 Egyptian revolution.^[3]

By 2011, Budowich had interned for representative Doris Matsui and Sacramento mayor Heather Fargo. After returning to Sacramento, he contacted Sal Russo, a Republican political consultant. Budowich joined Russo's organization, Tea Party Express, established to support the Tea Party movement, that year.^[3] By August 2012, he represented Tea Party Express as a spokesperson.^[4] Budowich had become the organization's communications director by December 2013^[5] and its executive director by June 2014.^[6] From 2012 to 2016, he handled Tea Party Express's response to president Barack Obama's State of the Union addresses. Budowich led the organization's national bus tours and organized rallies in support of amenable senators, including Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, and representatives, including Ted Yoho and Ron DeSantis.^[7]

In September 2017, Budowich began working for Watchdog PAC, a political action committee for Richard Corcoran, the speaker of the Florida House of Representatives.^[7] Florida Politics viewed Budowich's appointment as the greatest indicator that Corcoran would run for governor of Florida in the 2018 gubernatorial election.^[8] Budowich served as the committee's communications director by January 2018.^[9] After DeSantis announced his candidacy, Corcoran's prospects diminished; Budowich worked for DeSantis's gubernatorial campaign and later temporarily served as his deputy policy director for education. He worked with DeSantis to dismantle Common Core.^[3] Budowich served as a spokesperson for Donald Trump's 2020 presidential campaign and was a close advisor to Donald Trump Jr., according to ProPublica.^[10] He helped lead the younger Trump's political action committee, Save the U.S. Senate PAC, following that year's presidential election, ahead of the Georgia runoff election.^[11]

By June 2021, Budowich had become a senior advisor to Max Miller, a Trump aide running for Ohio's seventh congressional district in the 2022 U.S. House of Representatives election.^[12] The following month, he had joined the conservative commentator Tudor Dixon's campaign in the 2022 Michigan gubernatorial election.^[13] Budowich became the director of communications for Save America, Trump's political action committee, later that month.^[14] In November, the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol subpoenaed Budowich, who allegedly led a social media and radio advertising campaign to promote disinformation about the 2020 presidential election and garner attendees for a rally in the Ellipse that preceded the January 6 Capitol attack.^[15] In February 2022, he appeared before the committee in a four-hour sworn testimony and gave the committee 1,700 pages of documents. Among the documents included his financial records from JPMorgan Chase; a federal judge rejected Budowich's emergency request to force the committee to relinquish the records.^[16]

Budowich served as Trump's spokesperson through Save America.^[17] With Donald Trump Jr., he founded a news aggregation app.^[18] In September 2022, Trump allies—supported by the then-former president—announced a political action committee, MAGA Inc., and named Budowich as its executive director.^[19] After Trump announced a presidential campaign for the 2024 election in November 2022, Budowich was not retained as Trump's spokesman.^[20] His work with MAGA Inc. legally barred him from interacting with Trump.^[21] In June 2023, one day before Trump was criminally charged in the classified documents case, Budowich appeared before the federal grand jury that indicted Trump.^[22] The following year, he wrote a memo viewing Pennsylvania as a critical state for the Trump campaign and stated that MAGA Inc. would use its resources to divert African American and Hispanic and Latino American voters.^[23] Budowich's work focused on advertising in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Nevada, and Arizona.^[24] In August, he co-founded an effort for the Trump campaign to reach young men.^[25] That month, Budowich left MAGA Inc. to work for Trump's campaign.^[26]

In November 2024, The Washington Post reported that Budowich was expected to be named as a White House deputy chief of staff.^[27] On November 13, 2024, Trump announced that Budowich would serve as assistant to the president and deputy chief of staff for communications and personnel.^[28] Susie Wiles, the incoming chief of staff, tentatively established a staff structure in which the Presidential Personnel Office would serve beneath the Office of Cabinet Affairs, set to be led by Budowich.^[29] In February 2025, Budowich moved to block Associated Press journalists from the Oval Office and Air Force One, among other locations, over the news agency's stance on the Gulf of Mexico naming controversy.^[30] He was named in Associated Press v. Budowich (2025), a lawsuit filed by the Associated Press over the move.^[31]