SANTA MONICA, CA — Stephen Miller was an outspoken conservative teenager who frequently clashed with the liberal establishment at Santa Monica High School. More than two decades later, he's preparing to run the White House staff.
President Donald Trump announced Friday that Miller, 41, one of his closest advisers will become White House chief of staff Monday, Nov. 9, replacing Susie Wiles. The announcement, confirmed by The Associated Press, follows Republicans' sweeping losses in Tuesday's midterm elections, which cost the party control of both chambers of Congress. It also sends a signal, as Miller is both the face of and architect of the administration's draconian immigration crackdown.
Trump described Miller as one of his most trusted advisers. Wiles, the first woman to hold the chief of staff position, will move to Trump's political operation. For Santa Monica, the appointment marks another remarkable chapter in the career of a hometown figure whose political views have long attracted both fierce criticism and staunch support.
Born and raised in Santa Monica, Miller attended Franklin Elementary School, Lincoln Middle School and Santa Monica High School, graduating in 2003. Even as a teenager, he was no stranger to controversy.
A 2017 Los Angeles Times profile documented his outspoken conservative activism, including appearances at school board meetings, criticism of multicultural education and confrontations with the prevailing political attitudes on campus.
A 2018 Los Angeles magazine oral history drew on interviews with former classmates and others who knew Miller growing up, describing a young man whose increasingly combative political positions made him a polarizing figure.
The Los Angeles Times revisited his upbringing in July 2025, examining his early opposition to diversity initiatives and his relationships with Latino classmates. Miller previously denied one former friend's account of an encounter in which the friend alleged Miller disparaged his ethnicity.
After graduating from Duke University, Miller worked for Republican lawmakers, including then-Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, before joining Trump's 2016 presidential campaign. He served as a senior adviser during Trump's first term and returned to the White House in 2025 as deputy chief of staff.
Miller has since become one of the administration's most influential policy advisers, helping shape its mass deportation campaign and broader immigration enforcement agenda. His approach has drawn sustained criticism from Democrats and immigrant-rights advocates, while Trump and his supporters have championed the policies as essential to securing the nation's borders.
His promotion comes amid a major White House shake-up following the Republican Party's midterm defeats. Trump announced that Miller would take over Monday, while Wiles would continue working with his political organization, according to Reuters. The appointment also carries an unusual historical footnote.
Miller is not the first Santa Monica High School graduate to become a powerful adviser to a Republican president. John Ehrlichman, who served as President Richard Nixon's chief domestic policy adviser before becoming embroiled in the Watergate scandal, attended the same school, a connection examined by the Los Angeles Times in 2025.
Now, more than 20 years after challenging the political establishment at Santa Monica High, Miller is preparing to assume one of the most influential unelected positions in American government.
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