Kellyanne Conway, longtime Trump aide, won't take on more prominent role, campaign says

Donald Trump denied a report that he might be looking to bring back his former campaign manger Kellyanne Conway who served as a senior counselor to the former president.

Speculation that Conway could again take on a prominent role in his campaign grew after Tara Palmeri reported in the online magazine, Puck, that some of the former president's family members are pushing for her return. Palmeri said his wife Melania Trump, son Eric Trump, and daughter-in-law and RNC co-chair Lara Trump are all hoping he brings back Conway, who helped lead him to victory in 2016.

Trump denied the report in an interview with The New York Times Friday, confirming he was not making any changes to his campaign team and that he was "thrilled" with his top advisers, Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita. He questioned why he would want to make such a change, The Times reported.

The rumor comes after President Joe Biden's decision to drop his reelection bid shook up the race and made Trump switch his lines of attack to Vice President Kamala Harris . The two candidates are neck and neck in most polls, but some have recently shown Harris leading Trump by three percentage points nationally and ahead in three key swing states .

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Who is Kellyanne Conway?

With Trump's victory in 2016, Conway became the first woman to oversee a successful U.S. presidential campaign . She was rewarded with a high-ranking White House role when he took office, serving as senior counselor to the president.

Before switching her allegiance to Trump, she ran a pro-Ted Cruz super PAC called "Keep the Promise I," when the Texas Senator was running for president in 2016.

Conway previously worked as a pollster and analyst specializing in data concerning women and younger voters. In 1995, she founded the polling company, inc./WomanTrend, a Washington-based polling firm. In 2010, she co-authored the book "What Women Really Want: How American Women Are Quietly Erasing Political, Racial, Class, and Religious Lines to Change the Way We Live."

Conway left White House to focus on her family

Conway announced she was leaving the White House to focus on her family in 2020. Her daughter Claudia Conway and then-husband George Conway made headlines during Trump's four years in office for attacking the president online.

In her 2022 memoir "Here's the Deal," Conway was both critical of and loyal to the former president. Last year, she said in a FOX News interview that the Republican party has work to do if it wants to court young voters in 2024 and warned that the Democrats are building a "turnout machine."

Rachel Barber is a 2024 election fellow at USA TODAY, focusing on politics and education. Follow her on X, formerly Twitter, at @rachelbarber_

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Kellyanne Conway, longtime Trump aide, won't take on more prominent role, campaign says