Corey Ryan Lewandowski (; born September 18, 1973) is an American political operative, lobbyist, and pundit politically aligned with Donald Trump. He served as the first campaign manager for Trump's 2016 presidential campaign. He has also worked as a political commentator for CNN, One America News Network (OANN), and Fox News, and as acting chief of staff to Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem.
Prior to his appointment by Trump, Lewandowski had managed other Republican election campaigns, worked in various clerical roles for members of congress, the Republican National Committee and conservative advocacy group Americans for Prosperity, and as a lobbyist. He was also employed as a Marine Patrol Officer for the New Hampshire State Police and ran unsuccessfully for office in both Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Lewandowski also "very seriously" considered running for Republican nomination in the 2020 US Senate election in New Hampshire to oppose incumbent Democrat, Jeanne Shaheen. Ultimately, he decided not to run.
As of March 2026, Lewandowski served under Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem as her acting chief of staff in an unpaid special government employee (SGE) position, until Noem was given another position. He was reportedly in an extramarital relationship with Noem.
Early career
1994 Massachusetts State House campaign
In 1994, while an undergraduate student, Lewandowski ran for a seat in the Massachusetts House of Representatives as a write-in candidate in the Republican primary. He received 143 votes, falling short of the 150 votes needed to win the party's nomination for the ballot. In the November general election, the seat was won by Thomas A. Golden Jr., a Democrat. Golden received 7,157 votes, while Lewandowski received 7 votes."1994 State Representative General Election: 17th Middlesex District ". Massachusetts Election Statistics. Office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Accessed on June 27, 2016.
Early work After graduating from college, Lewandowski worked as an aide for Republican Massachusetts Congressman Peter G. Torkildsen"Out With Old, In With New". Associated Press. Tulsa World. November 23, 1996. from January 1996 to January 1997, while a graduate student at American University. Also while a student in 1997, Lewandowski interned for Massachusetts State Senator Steven C. Panagiotakos, a Democrat.
From December 1997 to February 2001, Lewandowski worked as an administrative assistant for Ohio Republican Bob Ney, a U.S. Congressman. In 2007, before Ney was sentenced on federal corruption charges arising from the Abramoff lobbying scandal, Lewandowski wrote a letter to the presiding judge, saying that Ney was a mentor and "surrogate father" to him and asking for leniency in sentencing.
In 1999, while working for Ney, Lewandowski brought a loaded handgun in a laundry bag into the Longworth House Office Building.DiStaso, John. "GOP chairman explains the ground rules". The New Hampshire Union Leader. December 20, 2001. He was arrested and charged with a misdemeanor. Lewandowski said it was an accident, that he forgot the gun was in the bag when he put the laundry in it. The charges eventually were dismissed; Lewandowski then unsuccessfully fought for four years to get the gun back, filing lawsuits in multiple District of Columbia and federal courts.
After leaving Ney's office, Lewandowski worked most of 2001 for the Republican National Committee as the Northeast legislative political director.
Smith campaign Lewandowski was the campaign manager for the 2002 re-election campaign of U.S. Senator Robert C. Smith of New Hampshire.DiStaso, John. "Will Stickney back Sununu? Not in the cards". New Hampshire Union Leader. November 29, 2001. Smith was challenged in the Republican primary by John E. Sununu.
Speaking about Sununu, Lewandowski said, "The people of New Hampshire want someone in the U.S. Senate with clear, concise views on terrorism. They'll judge a congressman based on the people he associates with, his voting record and his campaign contributions."Babington, Charles. "Smith Takes Swipe at Sununu, White House Swipes Back ". The Washington Post (December 23, 2001). Lewandowski told a reporter he would be interested to know whether anyone associated with Hamas had attended a fundraising event for Sununu.Fahey, Tom. "White House gets involved in Smith-Sununu election discord". The New Hampshire Union Leader. December 15, 2001. (Lewandowski cited contributions made by Washington lawyer George Salem to Sununu; Salem, who chaired Arab Americans for Bush-Cheney during the 2000 Bush/Cheney campaign, was the attorney for the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, which had its assets frozen by the U.S. government in 2001 on suspicion of ties to Hamas.) Lewandowski's comments were interpreted as publicly suggesting that Sununu, who is of Lebanese descent, had divided loyalties in fighting terrorism.
Former New Hampshire Governor Steve Merrill said, "The politics of ethnic slurs and bigotry have no place in any campaign." Former New Hampshire Senator Warren Rudman said, "Bob Smith is a better human being than that, and he ought to tell his people to watch themselves." President George W. Bush's spokesperson said, "The White House called Senator Smith's office ... Remarks that paint Arab Americans with a broad brush aren't helpful. We need to reassure Arab Americans that this war is about al-Qaida, not Islam. Mr. Salem is a good friend of the president's and an honorable man."
Smith's press secretary said Lewandowski was "merely responding to media inquiries" about Salem's fund raising and that "Senator Smith has repeatedly said this campaign is about records—Congressman Sununu's record and Senator Smith's record. Someone's ethnic background has absolutely nothing to do with this election."
Sununu defeated Smith in the Republican primary, winning 53% of the vote to Smith's 45%."Federal Elections 2002 U.S. Senate Results ". Federal Election Commission. 2002. Smith was the first sitting U.S. senator in ten years to lose a primary campaign.
Schwartz MSL, Americans for Prosperity, and other work From 2003 to 2004, Lewandowski was executive director of the New England Seafood Producers Association.
From 2004 to 2012, Lewandowski worked for Schwartz MSL, a strategic communication and engagement firm where, according to his LinkedIn profile, he served as director of public affairs from September 2004 until July 2012. Lewandowski was registered as a lobbyist for Schwartz MSL on behalf of Passport Systems in 2011, lobbying on homeland security issues. Schwartz represented Passport Systems for six years, and the firm paid Schwartz more than $350,000 (~$ in ) over that period. Between 2008 and 2011, Passport Systems secured more than $23.9 million in federal funds. Lewandowski represented two other clients: health care software company Logical Images and solar-power company Borrego Solar.
Lewandowski graduated from the New Hampshire police academy in 2006 and worked from 2006 to 2010 as a seasonal marine patrol officer with the New Hampshire State Police.
In 2008, Lewandowski began working for Americans for Prosperity, a Koch brothers-backed advocacy group. Lewandowski's period working for Americans for Prosperity overlapped with his tenure as a marine patrol officer and registered federal lobbyist. Lewandowski was Americans for Prosperity's New Hampshire director, and East Coast regional director before becoming the national director of voter registration, a position he held until January 2015. Lewandowski's term at Americans for Prosperity was described by Politico as "tumultuous" and marked by "fiery confrontations" with other AFP employees.
While working for Americans for Prosperity, Lewandowski criticized the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a cap-and-trade system for state utilities, saying "it does nothing to reduce greenhouse gases because jobs and businesses just move to other states." At the same time, Lewandowski lobbied for Borrego Solar, helping to secure a $500,000 (~$ in ) earmark in the 2010 Energy and Water Appropriations Act that benefited a solar electricity project in Lancaster, Massachusetts, that Borrego was involved in. Newsweek noted, "though he had succeeded as a pro-solar lobbyist looking for government assistance, at AFP he waged a campaign against government programs that supported green energy."
In 2012, while still working for Americans for Prosperity, Lewandowski unsuccessfully ran for town treasurer of Windham, New Hampshire. NPR reported that during the campaign, Lewandowski "upended the town's politics, using public records laws to probe local government and launching robocalls targeted at voters to stoke outrage over a visit to the town by President Obama." Robert Skinner defeated Lewandowski, receiving 1,941 votes to Lewandowski's 714."Windham Town Results". Eagle-Tribune (North Andover, Massachusetts). March 5, 2012.
Trump 2016 presidential campaign Lewandowski first met Trump in April 2014 at a political event in New Hampshire. In January 2015, six months before Trump announced his campaign, Lewandowski was invited to Trump Tower, where he accepted an offer from Trump to become campaign manager. His salary was $20,000 (~$ in ) per month.
When Lewandowski was hired, Trump's political staff consisted of three people: his lawyer Michael D. Cohen, veteran operative Roger Stone, and aide Sam Nunberg. In April 2016, another veteran GOP operative, Paul Manafort, was hired; the following month Manafort was named "campaign chairman." Nunberg was dismissed in August 2015; he believes that it was Lewandowski and campaign press secretary Hope Hicks who asked Trump for his ouster. Stone left the campaign a week later.
Lewandowski's motto as Trump's campaign manager was "Let Trump be Trump"; those words appeared on his office white board. Trump said of Lewandowski, "He leaves me alone, but he knows when to make his presence felt."
After a win in New Hampshire on February 9, 2016, Trump acknowledged Lewandowski's role in the win by praising his ground game.
Departure In April 2016, Lewandowski's influence within the Trump campaign was reported to be waning. On the morning of June 20, 2016, the Trump campaign was served with a legal complaint from its North Carolina Digital Director, Vincent Bordini. The complaint alleged that the North Carolina State Director Earl Phillip, who was accused of stolen valor, pointed a firearm at more than one staffer and the story was suppressed by Stuart Jolly, the National Field Director for the Trump Campaign. Corey Lewandowski had tasked Stuart Jolly and Michael Glassner with handling the issue. Later that morning on June 20, 2016, Trump's campaign announced that it was parting ways with Lewandowski; according to reports, Lewandowski was dismissed, although Donald Trump Jr., Trump's son, described the split as "amicable." The move occurred after Lewandowski clashed with Trump chief strategist and campaign chairman Paul Manafort in an internal "power struggle." After Lewandowski's departure, Manafort (who had been brought on the campaign in March 2016) became the de facto campaign manager.
First Trump term, political commentary, and lobbying activities
CNN Days after Lewandowski left the Trump campaign, he was hired by the cable news network CNN as a political commentator. Lewandowski remains subject to a non-disclosure agreement that he signed with Trump, forbidding him "from making disparaging or revealing remarks about the candidate." Lewandowski received severance pay from the Trump campaign while working for CNN. In July 2016, after the group Media Matters for America noted that CNN had not disclosed this to viewers, CNN hosts began making on-air disclosures of the severance payments before Lewandowski's appearances.