Arkansas governor’s chief spokesperson announces departure
Aug 06, 2024 | 4:14 pm ET
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WASHINGTON, DC - MAY 08: (L-R) Special Assistant to the President Alexa Henning, Senior Advisor to President Donald Trump and son-in-law Jared Kushner and White House Deputy Press Secretary Hogan Gidley walk out of the West Wing on the morning that the Labor Department announced that more than 20 million people lost their jobs in April due to the novel coronavirus pandemic May 08, 2020 in Washington, DC. "There is a lot of heartbreak and hardship in those numbers," White House Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow said. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Alexa Henning, Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ communications director, will leave her post later this month for a Washington D.C.-based public affairs firm, Henning announced Tuesday.
Henning and Sanders first worked together in the White House in former President Donald Trump’s administration. While Sanders served as Trump’s press secretary, Henning was the director of broadcast media.
As first reported in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Henning will leave the Natural State after serving as Sanders’ chief spokesperson for one year and eight months. Her last day will be Aug. 16. A new appointment has not yet been announced.
“I am grateful beyond words to the governor for putting her trust in me to serve the great State of Arkansas and thankful for her leadership and the remarkable team she leads,” Henning said in a statement.
Henning also noted anticipation for the remainder of Sanders’ administration — what she said would be the next six and a half years — and highlighted their friendship.
According to the Arkansas Transparency website, which discloses state employees’ salaries, Henning earned $132,360 annually in her role with the executive office.
Henning is listed as one of seven executive staff members who aid and advise the governor on various issues, though additional members of Sanders’ communications team are not included on the governor’s office website.
“I’ve counted on [Henning] since our earliest days together in the Trump White House,” Sanders said in a statement. “She was a loyal staffer when I was press secretary, an effective adviser when I became governor, and a good friend throughout.”
Sanders expressed gratitude for Henning’s work in her administration since she became governor in 2023, and wished her “nothing but good luck [as] she takes this next step in her career.”
Henning’s previous experience includes leadership roles for Wisconsin’s U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, working with Texas’ U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz and for Jamestown Associates, a political and public affairs firm.
She is from Dallas and is a University of Missouri graduate.
Little Rock