Kellyanne Elizabeth Conway (néeFitzpatrick; born January 20, 1967) is an American political consultant and pollster who served asSenior Counselor to the President in thefirst presidency of Donald Trump from 2017 and 2020.[1][2][3][4] She was previously Trump'scampaign manager, having been appointed in August 2016; Conway is the first woman to have run a successful U.S. presidential campaign.[5] She previously held roles as a campaign manager and strategist in theRepublican Party and was formerly president and CEO of the Polling Company/WomanTrend.[6]
In July 2016, after Cruz dropped out the race, Trump appointed Conway as a senior advisor and later campaign manager.[11][12] On December 22, 2016, Trump announced that Conway would join his administration ascounselor to the president.[13] On November 29, 2017, Attorney GeneralJeff Sessions announced that Conway would overseeWhite House efforts to combat theopioid overdose epidemic.[14][15]
In Conway's role asSenior Counselor to the President, she used the phrase "alternative facts" to describe fictitious attendance numbers for Trump's inauguration; spoke of a "Bowling Green massacre" that never occurred; and said thatMichael Flynn had the full confidence of the president hours before he resigned. Members of Congress from both parties called for an investigation of an alleged ethics violation after she publicly endorsed commercial products associated with the president's daughter,Ivanka Trump.[16] In June 2019, theU.S. Office of Special Counsel recommended that Conway be fired for "unprecedented" multiple violations of theHatch Act of 1939, but she was not fired.[17] In August 2020, Conway left the administration.
Conway has been a media commentator. In 2022, she joinedFox News as a contributor, and she appears as a guest or host on a variety of programs, includingHannity,The Five,Outnumbered,The Big Weekend Show, and others. She also contributed to Fox's 2022 midterm election coverage. In July 2024, Fox News announced that Conway will host a weekly program on the network's streaming platform,Fox Nation, calledHere's The Deal with Kellyanne Conway.
Early life and education
Kellyanne Elizabeth Fitzpatrick was born on January 20, 1967, inCamden, New Jersey, to Diane (née DiNatale) and John Fitzpatrick, and grew up in the nearbyAtco section ofWaterford Township, New Jersey.[18][19][20] Conway's father had German, English, and Irish ancestry, while her mother is of Italian descent;[21] John Fitzpatrick owned a small trucking company, and Diane worked at a bank. Conway's parents divorced when she was three,[22][23] and she was raised by her mother, grandmother, and two unmarried aunts in Atco. She graduated fromSt. Joseph High School in 1985 as classvaledictorian. In high school, she also sang in the choir, played field hockey, worked on floats for parades, and was a cheerleader.[24] A 1992 New Jersey Organized Crime Commission report identified Conway's grandfather, Jimmy "The Brute" DiNatale, as a mob associate of thePhiladelphia crime family; DiNatale did not reside with Conway's grandmother, Conway, and the rest of her family.[22] Conway's cousin, Mark DeMarco, has stated that while in high school, Conway ordered members of the football team to stop bullying him; according to DeMarco, the bullying stopped.[25] Her family isCatholic.[19][26]
Conway credits her experience working for eight summers on a blueberry farm inHammonton, New Jersey, for teaching her a strong work ethic. "The faster you went, the more money you'd make," she said. At age 16, she won the New Jersey Blueberry Princess pageant. At age 20, she won the World Champion Blueberry Packing competition. "Everything I learned about life and business started on that farm," she said in September 2016.[26]
Conway entered the polling business when she was in law school, working as a research assistant forWirthlin Group, a Republican polling firm.[28] After graduating, she initially considered working for a law firm, but chose to work forLuntz Research Companies instead.[33] As a student at Trinity College, she met and became friends withFrank Luntz, the firm's founder, on a year abroad atOxford University.[33]
In 1995, she founded her own firm, the Polling Company, which consulted on consumer trends, including trends regarding women. Conway's clients includedVaseline,American Express, andHasbro.[34] She also provided political consulting service to U.S. RepresentativeJack Kemp, U.S. SenatorFred Thompson,[32][better source needed] Vice PresidentDan Quayle,[35] Speaker of the HouseNewt Gingrich, and U.S. Representative (later Vice President)Mike Pence.[34] She worked as the senior advisor to Gingrich during his unsuccessful 2012 United States presidential election campaign.[36] Later, in 2012, she represented U.S. Senate candidateTodd Akin.[37] She also directed demographic and attitudinal survey projects for trade associations and private companies, includingAmerican Express,ABC News,Major League Baseball, andLadies Home Journal. Her firm also included WomanTrend, a research and consulting division.[32]
Media commentator
In the 1990s, along with conservative female commentatorsLaura Ingraham,Barbara Olson, andAnn Coulter,[28] she helped turn punditry into "stylish stardom" in bothWashington, D.C. andcable television.[38][39] and was credited with setting forth Washington, D.C.'s "sexual awakening."[40] In a review of the era in the capital, Conway (then known as Fitzpatrick) said that her "broad mind and small waist have not switched places".[41] Conway, Ingraham, and Coulter were sometimes called "pundettes",[42] and appeared onBill Maher'sPolitically Incorrect.[28]
Conway in 2015
Conway appeared as a commentator on polling and politics forABC,CBS,NBC,PBS,CNN,MSNBC,NY1,Fox News, and various radio programs. In 2004,The Washington Post recognized her with its "Crystal Ball" award for accurately predicting the outcome of that year's election.[43]
2016 presidential election
Ted Cruz support and endorsement
In 2016, Conway endorsedTed Cruz'spresidential candidacy, even though she became acquainted withDonald Trump when living inTrump World Tower years earlier, from 2001 to 2008, and serving on its condo board.[8] She chaired a pro-Cruz political action committee, Keep the Promise I, which was almost entirely funded by businessmanRobert Mercer.[44][45] Conway's organization criticized Republican presidential candidateDonald Trump as "extreme" and "not a conservative".[9][10] On January 25, 2016, Conway criticized Trump as "a man who seems to be offending his way to the nomination."[46] On January 26, Conway criticized Trump's use ofeminent domain, saying, "Donald Trump has literally bulldozed over the little guy to get his way."[47]
In mid-June 2016, Cruz suspended his campaign and Conway left.[48]
2016 Trump campaign
On July 1, 2016, Trump announced that he had hired Conway for a senior advisory position onhis presidential campaign.[49] Conway was expected to advise Trump on how to better appeal to female voters.[49] On August 19, following the resignation ofPaul Manafort, Trump named Conway the campaign's third campaign manager.[34][50] She served in this capacity for ten weeks, through the November 8 general election, and was the first woman to successfully run an American presidential campaign,[51] and the first woman to run a Republican general election presidential campaign.[50]Saturday Night Live started satirizing her in October 2016, portrayed byKate McKinnon.[52][53][54] In a January 2017 interview, Conway acknowledged theSNL parody by noting that, "Kate McKinnon clearly sees the road to the future runs through me and notHillary."[55][56]
On November 10, 2016, Conway publicly tweeted that Trump had offered her aWhite House job.[57] "I can have any job I want", she said on November 28.[58] On November 24, Conway tweeted that she was "Receiving deluge of social media & private comms re:Romney. Some Trump loyalists warn against Romney as sec of state" with a link to an article on Trump loyalists' discontent for the 2012 nominee. Conway told CNN she was only tweeting what she has shared with President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-electMike Pence in private.[59]
On November 28, two top sources at the Trump transition team told media outlets that Trump "was furious" at Conway for media comments she made on Trump administration cabinet appointments.[60] The following day, however, Trump released a written statement stating that the campaign sources were wrong and that he had expressed disappointment at her critical comments on Romney.[61]CNBC reported on November 28 that senior officials in the Trump transition "have reportedly been growing frustrated by Conway's failure to become a team player."[58]
On December 1, Conway appeared with senior aides of the Trump campaign atHarvard Kennedy School for a forum on the 2016 presidential race; the quadrennial post-presidential election forum has been held at the School of Government since 1972. Sitting across from Conway were senior Clinton campaign aides, including Clinton's campaign managerRobby Mook. As tempers began to flare, the forum escalated into a "shouting match"; during one exchange, Clinton senior strategistJoel Benenson said "The fact of the matter is that more Americans voted for Hillary Clinton than for Donald Trump." Conway replied to Benenson while looking at the Trump aides: "Hey, guys, we won. You don't have to respond. He was the better candidate. That's why he won."[62]
In early December, Conway said that Hillary Clinton supporters were making death threats against her.[63] Consequently, Trump assignedSecret Service to protect her.[64][65][66] Conway gave up her Secret Service protection in September 2017 due to "reduction in threats."[67][68][69]
White House advisor
Conway speaking to press outside the White House in 2019
In January 2017,The Guardian reported that, "[a] search of several online legal dictionaries, however, did not yield any results for the term."[75]
Bowling Green massacre
On February 2, 2017, Conway appeared in atelevision news show interview onHardball with Chris Matthews. In order to justifyPresident Trump's immigration ban, she referenced an event allegedly perpetrated by Iraqi terrorists she termed the "Bowling Green massacre". Such an event never took place.[76][77]Vox suggested Conway was referring to the 2011 arrest of two Iraqi refugees inBowling Green, Kentucky.[77] Conway stated the next day that she meant to say "Bowling Green terrorists", both of whom had pleaded guilty to carrying out and supporting attacks on American soldiers in Iraq.[78] There was never any suggestion that they had planned to carry out attacks in the United States.[79]
On February 5, 2017,New York University journalism professorJay Rosen argued that, given repeated misstatements of fact, Conway should cease being booked as a guest on television news shows.CNN opted not to book Conway as a guest that day because of what the network said were "serious questions about her credibility."[80][81]
Hatch Act
TheHatch Act of 1939 states that federal government employees must not advocate for their political party while representing a public office. Violating such a law can result in such an employee being removed from public office, but not jailed.[82] Conway has been accused of breaching the act on several occasions.
On February 9, 2017, during an appearance onFox & Friends, Conway discussed department storeNordstrom's decision to drop products supplied byIvanka Trump's business. "Go buy Ivanka's stuff is what I would tell you", said Conway; she elaborated "It's a wonderful line. I own some of it. I'm going to give a free commercial here: Go buy it today, everybody. You can find it online".[83][84] Within hours, two organizations filed formal ethics complaints against Conway for violating federal law prohibiting use of a federal position "for the endorsement of any product, service or enterprise".[85]Public Citizen asked theOffice of Governmental Ethics (OGE) to investigate, saying that Conway's remarks reflected "an on-going careless regard of the conflicts of interest laws and regulations of some members of theTrump family and Trump Administration". The group's president, Robert Weissman, declared, "Since she said it was an advertisement, that both eliminates any question about whether outsiders are unfairly reading into what's being said, and two, it makes clear that wasn't an inadvertent remark".[86]Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington filed a similar complaint with the OGE and with the White House Counsel's Office;[87] the group's executive director, Noah Bookbinder, stated "This seems to us to be about as clear-cut a violation as you can find".[88]
Harvard constitutional law professorLaurence Tribe toldThe New York Times "You couldn't think of a clearer example of violating the ban of using your government position as kind of a walking billboard for products or services offered by a private individual," adding "She is attempting quite crudely to enrich Ivanka and therefore the president's family."[88]Chris Lu, deputy secretary of labor in the Obama administration, complained toJason Chaffetz, chair of theUnited States House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, that Conway had violated federal ethics laws,[89] also saying onTwitter that, under Obama, "If we did what @KellyannePolls did, we would've been fired".[90]Richard Painter, chief ethics attorney forGeorge W. Bush, declined to say whether he thought Conway's statements broke the law, but that such actions would not have been tolerated in the Bush administration. "The events of the past week demonstrate that there is no intent on the part of the president, his family or the White House staff to make meaningful distinctions between his official capacity as president and the Trump family business".[88] At the regularly scheduled afternoon press briefing, Sean Spicer told reporters that "Kellyanne has been counseled, and that's all we are going to go with ... She's been counseled on the subject, and that's it."[91] In a direct rebuke to Spicer, Conway tweeted that Trump "likes 'counselor' more than 'counseled.'"[92][93]
Conway's comments drew bipartisan congressional condemnation. Chaffetz, a Republican, called them "clearly over the line" and "unacceptable". Cummings, a Democrat and the committee's ranking member, called them "jaw-dropping".[94] Both Chaffetz and Cummings wrote the OGE on February 9, 2017, requesting that Conway's behavior be investigated and that the office recommend "suggested disciplinary action, if warranted".[16]
On November 24, 2017,Walter Shaub, the former director of the OGE, said that he filed an ethics complaint against Conway.[95] He argued that Conway violated the Hatch Act when she criticizedDoug Jones, a candidate in the2017 U.S. Senate special election in Alabama.[95] On March 6, 2018, theU.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC) – led by Trump appointeeHenry Kerner – issued its final report, determining that Conway violated the Hatch Act in two television interviews in November and December 2017.[96][97]
Conway continued to make frequent television appearances and comment on political topics. In May 2019, Conway declared: "If you're trying to silence me through the Hatch Act, it's not going to work ... Let me know when the jail sentence starts".[98]
On June 13, 2019, the OSC formally recommended that Conway be removed from federal service, citing multiple Hatch Act violations by Conway since the preparation of its 2018 report, "by disparaging Democratic presidential candidates while speaking in her official capacity during television interviews and on social media". The OSC noted her criticism from February to May 2019 of candidates such asAmy Klobuchar,Bernie Sanders,Beto O'Rourke,Cory Booker,Elizabeth Warren,Joe Biden andKirsten Gillibrand, and also called her violations "egregious, notorious, and ongoing". The OSC noted that this was the first time they "had to issue multiple reports to the President concerning Hatch Act violations by the same individual".[17][99][100] In an interview, Kerner characterized his agency's recommendation as unprecedented, adding, "You know what else is unprecedented? Kellyanne Conway's behavior."[17]
Due to Conway's status as a presidential appointee, the OSC was unable to take any steps to implement its recommendation, but it was submitted to the President for consideration.[101][102][103] The White House immediately rejected the finding and demanded that it be withdrawn by the OSC.[104] Trump said he thought the recommendation was "very unfair, it's called freedom of speech."[105]
On June 26, 2019, Conway did not appear at a hearing by the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, leading that committee to issue a subpoena for her. At that hearing, Special Counsel Henry Kerner testified that Conway had been found guilty of two Hatch Act violations in 2018 and 11 in 2019. In comparison, during the eight years of the Obama administration, only two federal employees were found guilty of violating the Hatch Act, with one violation each.[106]
Michael Flynn comments
On February 13, 2017, Conway claimed that former national security advisorMichael Flynn had the president's "full confidence". Hours later, Flynn resigned.[107] The following day, Conway claimed Flynn had offered to resign, but White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said Trump had asked Flynn for his resignation.[107] It was then reported that Conway had allegedly leaked negative stories about Spicer to the press.[108]
On February 15, the MSNBC news showMorning Joe officially banned Conway from future appearances. The show's primary hostJoe Scarborough said the decision to ban Conway from the show was based on her being "out of the loop" and "in none of the key meetings".[109]
In September 2021, President Biden sent Conway a letter requesting that she resign from her position on theU.S. Air Force Academy's board of visitors, informing her that she'd otherwise be dismissed from it. Biden sent similar letters to eleven other political officials that Trump had appointed to military academy boards. Conway refused President Biden's request that she resign, and argued that her removal from the board broke norms, politicized the post, and would discourage others from serving on such boards in the future.[110][111][112]
In 2022, Conway joined Fox News as a contributor.[113] She frequently appears as a guest/host on a variety of programs, includingHannity,The Five,Outnumbered,The Big Weekend Show, and more. Conway also contributed to Fox's 2022 midterm election coverage. In July 2024, Fox News announced that Conway will host a weekly program on the network's streaming platform,Fox Nation, calledHere's The Deal with Kellyanne Conway.[114]
In December 2023, Conway met with congressional Republicans and argued that it was electorally necessary for them to support protections of access tobirth control, citing public approval for such protection.[118] Shortly after theSupreme Court of Alabama delivered their February 2024 ruling inLePage v. Center for Reproductive Medicine, Conway's firm shared polls that they had conducted demonstrating broad public support for protections ofIVF andfertility treatments, even among Americans opposed to abortion and self-identifyingevangelicals.[119]
She does not consider herself afeminist "in a classical sense", saying that she believes the term is associated with being "anti-male" and "pro-abortion", but identifies as what she calls an "individual feminist".[126] Conway has opined that many feminists fail to accept women who arepro-life and conservative, and that they "'mainly care about what happens from the waist down... It's an insult. You know, it's [from] the waist up for me – my eyes, my ears, my head, my heart, my mouth certainly.'"[25] She has also said that "nobody cared" about her experience with sexual harassment and herMe Too moment because of her political views.[127]
George Conway is a critic of Trump; in December 2019 he co-founded theLincoln Project, which campaigned against Trump's re-election from a conservative perspective.[134] In March 2019, Trump responded to criticism from Kellyanne's husband George by describing George as a "stone cold LOSER & husband from hell".[135] Kellyanne defended Trump by saying that George Conway is "not a psychiatrist" and that Trump should not be expected to respond when George, "a non-medical professional accuses him of having a mental disorder".[136]
One of the few White House staffers to have Secret Service protection due to various threats, Conway chose "Blueberry" as herSecret Service code name because of associations with the fruit from her youth in pageants and berry picking.[148]
In a September 2018 interview withJake Tapper on CNN, Conway stated she was the victim of a sexual assault.[149][150]
On August 23, 2020, Conway announced her resignation in order to "spend more time with her family,"[151] as did her husband George, who announced he had taken time off from the Lincoln Project and Twitter.[152]
In March 2023, George and Kellyanne announced that they were divorcing after 22 years of marriage.[153]
In 2005, Conway andDemocratic pollsterCelinda Lake co-authoredWhat Women Really Want: How American Women Are Quietly Erasing Political, Racial, Class, and Religious Lines to Change the Way We Live (Free Press/Simon & Schuster, 2005;ISBN0-7432-7382-6).
^Lange, Jeva (November 9, 2016)."Kellyanne Conway becomes first woman to successfully run a presidential campaign".The Week.New York City.Archived from the original on September 25, 2018. RetrievedNovember 9, 2016.Hillary Clinton may not have been elected president, but other glass ceilings were shattered on Election Day nonetheless. One such historic moment came from Trump's own camp, where Kellyanne Conway became the first woman to successfully run a presidential campaign.
^"The Polling Company".Archived from the original on May 15, 2019. RetrievedFebruary 1, 2017.Effective January 20th, 2017, Kellyanne Conway has resigned as President and CEO of the polling company/WomanTrend. Brett Loyd, previously Director of Political Services, has been named the new President and CEO.
^abBrunetti, Michelle (October 17, 2016)."Trump strategist Kellyanne Conway has deep roots in South Jersey".Press of Atlantic City.Archived from the original on February 8, 2017. RetrievedNovember 6, 2016.Marie DiNatale and grandmother Antoinette DiNatale in a brick rancher just off the White Horse Pike in the working-class Atco section of Waterford Township in Camden County. She attended St. Joseph's High School, just 10 miles east down the pike in Hammonton.
^Lange, Jeva (November 9, 2016)."Kellyanne Conway becomes first woman to successfully run a presidential campaign".The Week.New York City.Archived from the original on September 25, 2018. RetrievedNovember 9, 2016.Hillary Clinton may not have been elected president, but other glass ceilings were shattered on Election Day nonetheless. One such historic moment came from Trump's own camp, where Kellyanne Conway became the first woman to successfully run a presidential campaign.
^Johnson, Brent (November 9, 2016)."How N.J. native Conway got Trump over the finish line".NJ.com. NJ Advance Media.Archived from the original on January 17, 2020. RetrievedNovember 9, 2016.Conway, who grew up in the Atco section of Waterford Township in Camden County, was hired in August, at a time when Trump was suffering from gaffes and drooping poll numbers... Conway, her husband, and her four children now live in the northern part of the state, in Alpine in Bergen County.
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