Anna Kelly Is Suddenly White House’s Hottest Pick

The White House still has not named its next permanent press secretary, but principal deputy Anna Kelly is suddenly going viral as a favorite — and the former beauty queen already looks like central casting built her specifically for the briefing room.

The White House is looking for another press secretary, and the internet has apparently decided the hiring process should now include a swimsuit round. Anna Kelly, the 29-year-old principal deputy press secretary, is suddenly everywhere as speculation swirls over who gets the podium after Katie Zacharia’s five-day run ended almost as quickly as it began.

There is one important fact before the internet gets too excited: Kelly has not officially been named White House press secretary. As of Friday, she remains the principal deputy, even though social media posts, prediction markets and political coverage have increasingly treated her like the obvious person standing closest to the giant blue curtain.

And then there is the part nobody on social media is pretending not to notice. Kelly is polished, camera-ready and striking enough that the White House press operation suddenly looks less like a communications shop and more like somebody accidentally scheduled a casting call for “extremely photogenic person who can argue with reporters at 2 p.m.”

That visual is not completely accidental because Kelly actually has a beauty-pageant background. She won Miss State Fair of Virginia in 2019 and later competed in other pageants, meaning the joke about Washington turning the press secretary search into a pageant is, for once, not even technically a joke.

Kelly also has the résumé behind the headshot. She studied political science at Auburn, earned a master’s degree in political management from George Washington University and worked in Republican communications before joining the White House press operation.

She previously served as a national press secretary for the Republican National Committee and worked as a spokesperson around Trump’s 2024 campaign. She has since become a regular administration voice on television, including appearances this week discussing Trump’s midterm campaign blitz.

In other words, she is not some random attractive person the internet found and tried to install behind the podium. She already works in the press shop, already talks to reporters and already has the kind of on-camera experience that matters in a job where one awkward answer can become a five-million-view clip before lunch.

Still, the timing makes the entire thing funnier. Trump’s last choice, Katie Zacharia, lasted only five days before leaving the role, and the White House is now searching again while political bettors bounce between Kelly, Scott Jennings and a long list of other MAGA-adjacent names.

Kelly has repeatedly surfaced near the top of those prediction markets because she is the most obvious internal candidate. She knows the operation, she has worked under prior press secretaries and, unlike the average Washington communications aide, she already looks like she expects a camera to find her from three rooms away.

That is where the Buzzy part writes itself. Washington usually pretends appearance has nothing to do with television politics, while television politics quietly behaves as if appearance has everything to do with television politics.

Kelly’s pageant past makes the contradiction especially perfect. The White House needs someone who can defend the president, survive hostile questions, understand policy and command the room — and the internet’s immediate reaction is basically, “Okay, but have you seen the headshot?”

To be fair, Kelly has leaned into a polished public image for years and has already handled television hits without looking overwhelmed by the format. That does not prove she would be a great press secretary, but it does mean the cameras are unlikely to be the problem.

The bigger test would be the actual briefing room. A White House press secretary has to answer for every controversy, policy reversal, late-night post and presidential improvisation, often while dozens of reporters are trying to turn one sentence into the next day’s front page.

That is why the job has chewed through people much faster than the glamour suggests. The podium looks great in photos, but it is also where a normal Tuesday can become a career event because somebody asked a follow-up about tariffs, Russia, immigration or what the president meant by a sentence he posted at 1:17 a.m.

For now, Kelly is still the principal deputy and the White House has not announced a permanent replacement. But if Trump wants somebody who already knows the building, knows the cameras and can make the briefing room look suspiciously close to pageant night, the internet has clearly identified its favorite contestant.

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