"Dedicated to all that MAGA stands for."
That is how Donald Trump described his daughter-in-law when he endorsed her to lead the Republican National Committee (RNC) back in February this year.
Nine months later, Trump now prepares to return to power after a stunning election success which saw him defeat Kamala Harris and Republicans seize control of both the House and the Senate. Lara Trump, who is married to the president-elect's third child, Eric Trump, has been widely praised for helping the GOP achieve the trifecta for the first time since 2018.
T.J. McCormack, a Republican communications specialist, said Lara Trump might be the most "underrated political success story" of the past few years.
"The job of the RNC leadership is to recruit the best and brightest candidates, support and shepherd their campaigns and—drumroll—win the presidency and both houses of Congress," McCormack told Newsweek. "So, on a pragmatic, definitive basis alone, Lara Trump has done her job with flying colors."
Already this success is prompting speculation that Lara Trump is destined for an even greater political office, with calls intensifying among Republicans for her to replace Marco Rubio as Senator for Florida, a suggestion that she has expressed interest in.
"If this is something I am asked to do, I would seriously consider it, but I have yet to hear from Gov. DeSantis. So we'll see what happens," Trump told Fox News' Maria Bartiromo.
Trump has long kept his family close to him in both business and politics. While Vice President-elect JD Vance will be seen as Trump's natural successor in 2028, there could be a chance a Trump political dynasty is formed and a member of his family runs for office in the future.
Political experts told Newsweek that while Trump is clearly "grooming" successors among his family, any Trump who runs for office could have difficulty replacing the family's patriarch.
Newsweek reached out to a spokesperson for Lara Trump and the RNC for comment via email.
Lara Trump's Career So Far
Lara Trump, born Lara Yunaska, earned a degree in communications from North Carolina State University. Afterwards, she worked as a bartender and a waitress before moving to New York to attend the French Culinary Institute, according to The New York Times.
She was a producer for Inside Edition before leaving in 2016, two years after marrying Eric Trump, to focus on her father-in-law's presidential campaign.
She also once worked as a personal trainer and at her husband Eric Trump's foundation, WWD reported in 2016.
She was hired as a senior consultant and liaison for a digital firm, Giles-Parscale, working on Trump's 2020 campaign, the Associated Press reported in 2017.
She became co-chair of the RNC in March.
Lara Trump and the Republican Party
Since taking the helm at the RNC, Lara Trump and chairman Michael Whatley merged the party and the Trump campaign into a single operation.
She oversaw a rise in fundraising: the RNC brought in $76 million in April and $65.6 million in March, compared with $10.6 million in February.
Earlier this year, she said the RNC would direct "massive resources" to its "election integrity" initiative that has already seen the RNC file dozens of election-related lawsuits.
She also played a key role, Time magazine reported, in persuading Trump to abandon his criticism of mail-in voting. Donald Trump and his allies repeatedly criticized the method as being rife with fraud during the 2020 campaign, but this year he encouraged his supporters to cast ballots by mail.
Lara Trump's Relationship with Donald Trump
Lara Trump has been one of Donald Trump's most vocal defenders, and as RNC co-chair, was arguably his biggest fundraiser during his successful bid to return to the White House.
"He is a lion. He is bold, he is strong, he is fearless, and he is exactly what this country needs right now," she said during a primetime speech at the Republican National Convention on July 16, three days after he survived an assassination attempt.
She also shared the cuddlier side of Trump, describing him as a doting grandfather to the two children she has with husband Eric Trump, his second-eldest son.
"I'll never forget watching my two children run up to him with their drawings and hugs for grandpa just moments before he took the elevator down in Trump Tower to address the media the day after his wrongful conviction," she said, referring to his hush money conviction in New York.
"Despite everything else he had going on, he had no other focus in the entire world, just a man relishing time with his grandchildren."
Donald Trump has long had his own family members served as his closest advisers, and handpicked Lara Trump, 42, for the role as he sought to bring the GOP apparatus under his grip.
Since then, she has since become one of the Trump family's loudest champions in the media. Her priority, she told The Associated Press in May, was "making sure that Donald Trump is the 47th president," an objective she successfully fulfilled.
Will Lara Trump Run for Office?
Trump is "grooming" family members to carry on his political legacy after his second term, says Barbara Perry, a professor at the University of Virginia's Miller Center and co-chair of the Presidential Oral History Program.
"Trump may eventually depart center stage, but Trumpism will not," she said. "In any case, he is grooming Lara and I think Don Jr., then Barron, to carry on the family's political ambitions, just as Donald inherited his father's real estate business," she told Newsweek.
Mike Madrid, a GOP strategist and co-founder of the Lincoln Project, an anti-Trump Republican organization, said that Trump's election win placed his daughter-in-law in a very powerful position. "She certainly seems to want the role more than the others," he told Newsweek.
Costas Panagopoulos, professor of political science at Northeastern University, says he is not convinced that another Trump could be as successful.
"It's conceivable the Trump family could emerge as America's next political dynasty, but I'm not convinced anyone else can replicate Donald Trump's unique style or appeal to die-hard supporters," Panagopoulos told Newsweek.
"They may have just broke the mold after they made him."
The Trump Family's Political Ambitions
Ivanka Trump's reportedly once aspired to become the country's first woman president.
She was a prominent campaign surrogate during her father's first two bids for the presidency, and was a senior adviser—along with husband Jared Kushner—during his first term. But she announced that she would be stepping away from politics ahead of Trump announcing his third run for the White House 2 years ago.
"I love my father very much. This time around, I am choosing to prioritize my young children and the private life we are creating as a family. I do not plan to be involved in politics," she said.
Still, other Trump family members appear to have political ambitions.
Eric Trump, the executive vice president of The Trump Organization, suggested in July that he would make a run for president in 2032, despite having little experience in politics outside of his involvement in his father's presidential campaigns.
And while it's not clear if Donald Trump Jr. has plans to run for office, he has emerged as a power broker in Republican politics, reportedly successfully convincing his father to choose Ohio Senator JD Vance as his running mate.
Trump's youngest son, 18-year-old Barron made his first-ever appearance at one of his father's rallies in July. He has been seen as an instrumental figure in his father's groundbreaking digital strategy this election, convincing him to sit down with podcasters and streamers to reach a younger audience.
Does America Want Another Political Dynasty?
There's a rich heritage of political dynasties in the United States.
But they are difficult to maintain, according to Perry, who has written books about former Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, and several about the Kennedy family.
"Multiple generations seem to dilute the talent, intellect, and magic that lands candidates in high positions, much less the Oval Office: the Tafts, Roosevelts, Kennedys, and Bushes are the most recent examples of families that reached the pinnacle and then petered out in politics," she said.
"While Americans have been drawn to political dynasties since the Founding (Adamses, Harrisons, Roosevelts, Tafts, Kennedys, Bushes), they eventually grow tired of them," she added.
Then, they move along to the "next shiny object in politics," noting that Trump had no political, governmental, or military experience prior to being elected president in 2016.
"Modern media have utterly reshaped how individuals rise to prominence and win public office," Perry said. "Who knows who the next family to grasp for the brass ring will be."
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