WASHINGTON (AP) – Vice President Mike Pence’s chief of staff will leave the White House and be replaced by a senior Pence campaign adviser who has been helping lead a pro-Trump group.
Pence’s office said Thursday that chief of staff Josh Pitcock will be succeeded in August by Nick Ayers, a longtime political operative from Georgia. The changes were first reported by The New York Times.
The move is the first big shake-up of the vice president’s team since he took office.
Pitcock has served as a top aide to Pence for more than a decade, including during the vice president’s time in Congress and as Indiana governor. Ayers advised Pence during the 2016 campaign and while Pence served as governor.
Ayers has been a leader of America First Policies, a pro-Trump outside group. The organization had prepared ads targeting Republican holdouts on the Senate’s health care bill, and aired ads pressuring Nevada Sen. Dean Heller to support the plan.