Karoline Leavitt through the years: From intern to the youngest press secretary in history and back to mom

Karoline Leavitt was 22 and fresh out of Saint Anselm College when she walked into the White House for the first time as an intern in the Office of Presidential Correspondence. Most interns leave but Leavitt did not. By 2020, she was an assistant press secretary working under Kayleigh McEnany, learning the briefing room, the press corps and her way around the pressure-filled White House. This period in her life would define everything that came after. 

Buoyed by the confidence from her stints in the White House and working on the Trump campaign, Leavitt did something most 24-year-olds with a West Wing credential would never risk. In July 2021, she ran for Congress. She won the Republican primary for New Hampshire's first congressional district on a staunchly pro-Trump platform, then lost the general to Democratic incumbent Chris Pappas. To others it may have been a defeat, but in practice it was a launching pad. University of New Hampshire political science professor Dante Scala gave quite a telling statement to the New York Times: ‘Karoline Leavitt has been the straw that stirred the drink.’ In hindsight, he wasn’t wrong. 

Leavitt joined Trump's 2024 campaign as national press secretary in January 2024. On July 10 of that year, she gave birth to her first child, a son. Three days later, a gunman opened fire at a Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. The campaign didn't pause. Neither did she. The shocking moment had galvanized and energized the Republicans and her. Within roughly a week of giving birth, Leavitt was back on television managing one of the most chaotic moments of a historic campaign. It was probably one of the moments that cemented her place in Trump's inner circle and made her appointment as press secretary feel inevitable.

When Trump announced Leavitt as his press secretary on November 15, 2024, he called her "smart, tough, and a highly effective communicator." What the announcement also made official: at 27, she had just become the youngest person ever to hold the position,  surpassing Ron Ziegler, who was 29 when Nixon appointed him in 1969. Her first official briefing on January 28, 2025 immediately signaled that this would not be a conventional press operation. Leavitt declared mainstream media was losing its grip on the briefing room and threw open the doors to podcasters, influencers, and independent journalists. The press corps had not seen anything like it. 

First, she made history as the youngest press secretary ever. Then she made history again by becoming the first person to give birth while actively serving in the role. Leavitt announced her second pregnancy in December 2025 and kept briefing reporters deep into her third trimester. She held what was meant to be her last pre-leave gaggle on April 24, 2026, joking with reporters: "As you can see, I'm about ready to have a baby any minute." She was back the very next day. An active shooter incident during the White House Correspondents' Dinner had shattered the calm. So, with the administration needing a steady hand at the podium, Leavitt returned, days from giving birth, to manage the crisis. In May, she gave birth to her second child, her daughter Viviana. 

Upon her return in mid-July 2026, Leavitt found herself facing a combative briefing room. Questions about transparency, the Trump administration’s conduct during the Iran conflict and her own ability to juggle the role as a mother of two followed her to the podium. She handled them. Until it all changed. On August 12, 2026, Trump announced Karoline Leavitt's departure in a Truth Social post. Leavitt's own statement was more personal: "Since returning to the White House after the birth of my daughter, I have felt in my heart that I cannot be the best mom my two young children deserve while devoting the constant time, energy, and attention required of the White House Press Secretary." The youngest press secretary in history announced the closing of an incredible chapter.