Karoline Leavitt is walking out of the White House briefing room for the last time.
But she is not walking away from the fight.
And what she told reporters aboard Air Force One — and what President Trump said about replacing her — will leave you wanting to know every detail.
Leavitt’s Next Chapter Begins at MAGA Inc.
Leavitt confirmed recently that she will return to MAGA Inc., the Trump-aligned Super PAC, once her tenure as White House press secretary ends at the close of August.
She made the announcement in the press cabin aboard Air Force One, speaking to reporters just after takeoff from Washington, DC to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina — her final trip as press secretary, accompanying President Trump to a rally for Sen. Darline Graham (R-SC).
The role is familiar territory. Leavitt previously served as spokesperson for MAGA Inc. before joining Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign, which ultimately ended in a landslide victory that sent her straight to the most visible communications job in the country.
She did not specify what her title will be this time around.
But she left no doubt about her intentions. “You guys will still see me all the time,” she told reporters.
And when asked about missing the press secretary job, she put it simply: “but I love my kids even more.”
That is about as honest an answer as Washington ever produces.
Leavitt stepped into the briefing room at age 27, becoming the youngest White House press secretary in history. She held the job through a relentless news cycle, two pregnancies, and roughly 18 months of daily combat with a press corps that was never rooting for her to succeed. She did anyway.
Trump announced her departure on Truth Social, writing that Leavitt was leaving to “spend more time with her beautiful young children and family,” and adding that she “will now be one of my top outside advisors, and an influential voice within the Republican Party, as we work to defy History, and conclusively win the Midterm Elections.”
That last part matters. Leavitt is not retreating. She is repositioning.
MAGA Inc. is sitting on more than $350 million in campaign funds ahead of November’s midterms, according to the Hill. That kind of war chest, with Leavitt as a public face, is not a consolation prize. It is a launching pad.
Trump on the Flood of Applicants
The search for a replacement has already taken on a life of its own.
President Trump told reporters recently, “I have never seen so many job applications in my life.”
That line captures something real. The press secretary job under Trump is not like any other communications role in Washington. It requires walking into a room full of people who want you to fail, every single day, and leaving with the administration’s message intact. Leavitt did that better than almost anyone expected.
Among those reportedly under consideration, according to the Hill, are CNN commentator Scott Jennings and Katie Miller, the wife of White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller.
Jennings is an interesting name to surface. He has reinvented himself as a Trump defender on CNN after years working for George W. Bush and Mitch McConnell, whom he has publicly called “my mentor.” In the immediate aftermath of January 6, Jennings called the participants “domestic terrorists” who “ought to be treated like any other terrorist uprising with the full force and fury of the US government” — and adopted the framing that Trump was “practically and morally responsible” for what happened that day.
His current on-air posture sits uneasily against that record.
And some of Trump’s most loyal allies have reportedly been working to push Jennings out of contention, citing exactly that history. The McConnell connection alone — in a White House that ran against everything McConnell represented — raises obvious questions about fit.
Trump himself has reportedly signaled interest in a male replacement, and has praised Jennings publicly, calling him a “patriot” who “gets it.” But the president is not quite sold, according to multiple reports, and the process is far from finished.
What Leavitt’s Exit Actually Means for the Midterms
The timing here is not accidental.
Leavitt confirmed she will rejoin MAGA Inc. in September for the Republican National Committee’s midterm convention, scheduled for September 9 and 10. That means she steps off Air Force One and almost immediately steps into the biggest political operation in the country, right as the midterm sprint begins in earnest.
Republicans are defending narrow majorities in both chambers. The stakes could not be higher. And having Leavitt — someone who spent a year and a half fighting daily battles on behalf of the Trump agenda, who knows the messaging, the vulnerabilities, and the press corps better than almost anyone — working on the outside with $350 million in resources is not a small thing.
The crowd at the Myrtle Beach rally understood what this moment meant. Leavitt’s sendoff from the South Carolina event was thunderous — a recognition that she gave everything to the job and left on her own terms.
That is rarer than it sounds in Washington, DC.
There is also something worth noting about the broader picture. The establishment media spent much of the past 18 months trying to rattle Leavitt, trip her up, or turn her into a liability for the administration. None of it worked. She walked out with her reputation intact, a historic record, and a new role that keeps her squarely in the middle of the fight for the midterms.
The press secretary replacement race will dominate the next few weeks of Washington chatter. But the more consequential story may be what Leavitt does next — and what a well-funded, battle-tested communicator operating outside the White House can do for Republican candidates across the country in November.
Her family comes first. The midterms come right after that.
And she already told everyone exactly where she will be.
Sources: Breitbart, “Karoline Leavitt Announces Her Next Job, Says ‘You Guys Will Still See Me All the Time'” (August 22, 2026); NBC News, “Karoline Leavitt to work for Trump-affiliated super PAC after leaving White House” (August 21, 2026); the Hill, “Karoline Leavitt to join Donald Trump’s MAGA Inc. PAC” (August 22, 2026)