Johnny DeStefano

So the ideal applicant wouldn’t have spent much of his career on Capitol Hill like DeStefano has, starting with a college internship. Or served as political director for former House speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio), who embodies the GOP establishment. Or raised money for House Republicans, then built a data operation used by the Republican National Committee. And yet this didn’t stop DeStefano, an amiable 38-year-old who grew up in Kansas City, Mo., from getting an under-the-radar role as someone to see in Trump world. DeStefano’s new post and ornate office are a long way from the Data Trust in downtown Washington, the Republican voter-data firm where he could wear flip flops and jeans to work while overseeing the team of 24 technology geeks he built to modernize the GOP’s voter files. He climbed the ladder of Washington politics the traditional way. The summer of his junior year at Saint Louis University, his uncle, a longtime Capitol Hill chief of staff, helped get him an internship with then-Rep. J.C. Watts (R-Okla.). After graduation DeStefano got a job serving as liaison to outside conservative groups for the House Republican Conference, and when Democrats targeted Rep. Deborah Pryce in 2006, he went to Ohio to run her reelection campaign. The GOP lost the House — but Pryce squeaked by with 1,055 votes. Boehner took notice, and hired DeStefano to help recruit Republicans to run for the House. Then as head of member services,DeStefano advised tea party members elected in 2010 how to staff their offices. When Priebus called, DeStefano had been running Data Trust for four years.