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Karen Hughes

Presidential Adviser
Graduate of W.T. White High School, Dallas

Karen Hughes, President George W. Bush’s director of communications during Bush’s presidential campaign, was confidant, director of communications, and chief spokesperson for the president.

Hughes worked for President Bush since his 1994 campaign for Texas governor. She served as director of communications for both his 1994 and 1998 gubernatorial campaigns and was director of communications in the governor’s state office from 1995 until 1999, when she joined the presidential campaign. She is a former executive director of the Republican party of Texas and a former television reporter.

Hughes resigned her presidential adviser post this year to devote more time to her family in Texas. Hughes said she would continue to advise Bush from Austin.

Born December 27, 1956, in Paris, France, Hughes received her bachelor’s degree from Southern Methodist University in 1977. She worked as a television news reporter from 1977 to 1984. As a reporter, Hughes followed the presidential campaign in 1980. In 1984, she made the switch from covering politics to practicing politics, going to work as the Texas press coordinator for the Reagan-Bush campaign.

After 1984, she continued her political endeavors, conducting political public relations and helping candidates in Dallas. In 1992, she moved to Austin to become executive director of the Texas Republican party. Over the course of many months on the road with George W. Bush, she developed a close working relationship with Bush.

Hughes teaches Sunday school and serves as an elder in her Presbyterian church in Austin. Her husband, Jerry, is an Austin attorney.