The rise of Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the new star of the Trump administration
Unlike many of the president's top aides, Sanders was bred in politics. She's the daughter of former Arkansas governor and two-time presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, and she served as field director for her father's 2002 gubernatorial reelection campaign, was the national political director for his 2008 presidential campaign, and headed his 2016 presidential bid.
"I always say that when most kids are seven or eight years old out jumping rope, she was sitting at the kitchen table listening to [political commentators] analyze poll results," Mike Huckabee told Fox News in May.
Her work on several Republican politicians' campaigns landed her on Time's 40 Under 40 list in 2010, alongside other top political minds, including Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin and Nick Ayers, who was selected this week to be Vice President Mike Pence's chief of staff. In her Time interview, Sanders called her father her political "inspiration," and praised President Barack Obama for addressing what she said was the most overlooked issue facing the nation: kids who are "victims of broken families."
Following Huckabee's withdrawal from the 2016 Republican primary race in February 2016, Sanders signed on as a senior adviser to the Trump campaign, later becoming a frequent spokesperson. Since January, she's served as the principal deputy press secretary at the White House and, more recently, has shared press briefing responsibilities with Press Secretary Sean Spicer.