McCarthy hires Trump’s former political director

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy has hired former President Donald Trump‘s White House political director in an effort to take back control of the House of Representatives from the Democrats in 2022. 

Axios reported Sunday that McCarthy had hired Brian Jack, a 2016 Trump campaign veteran whose final job at the Trump White House was director of political affairs. 

McCarthy’s decision to have Jack lead his own political operation signals that he plans to keep Trump close.  

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (left) hired former White House Political Director Brian Jack (right) to lead his political operation as he tries to flip the House to Republican control in the 2022 elections

Brian Jack worked for President Donald Trump (pictured) starting in 2016, after Ben Carson dropped out of the GOP primary race. Jack stayed with Trump all through his four years in office 

McCarthy believes Jack will be an asset for fundraising and recruitment and will also work on strategy, Axios said.  

Conversations to recruit Jack to McCarthy’s office started in December while Trump was still in office, the publication added. 

Jack joined Trump’s operation in March 2016 after Ben Carson dropped out of the GOP primary race. 

Jack worked for Carson’s 2016 presidential campaign for seven months, as the neurosurgeon’s national director of ballot access and delegate selection, according to his LinkedIn.

Carson promptly endorsed Trump once he dropped out of the race and eventually became the president’s director of Housing and Urban Development, staying on through Trump’s full term. 

Jack also stayed with Trump through the four years.  

Prior to working for the two campaigns, Jack was a senior political analyst at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and worked for the Republican National Committee. 

Trump considered Jack the expert on Congressional elections, Axios said.   

Democrats’ slim House majority looks ripe for Republicans next year, who also have the historic advantage of not being in the White House. 

The opposition party tends to pick up seats in a president’s first midterm.  

Trump lost the House in the 2018 midterms, as former President Barack Obama did in 2010 and former President Bill Clinton did in 1994. 

Jack started working under McCarthy earlier this month, Axios said, and will work closely with staff at the National Republican Campaign Committee, the party’s House elections’ arm.