A Hermon High School grad could be the White House’s new public face as President Donald Trump moves into his lame duck era.
In a social media post on Saturday, Trump announced that he had asked Dana White, the CEO of the Ultimate Fighting Championship who graduated from Hermon in 1987, to be his press secretary.
“I am pleased to announce that the Great Dana White, a violent Fighter and Warrior, has been offered the job of Press Secretary of the United States,” Trump posted on his social media platform Truth Social. “Dana will be a Press Secretary like none other. Dana, please take the job!”
It was unclear on Saturday afternoon if White planned to accept the job or how serious the offer really was. The New York Times suggested the offer, real or a joke, was meant to demonstrate the president’s defiance of a Republican wipeout in Tuesday’s midterm elections. Democrats recaptured both chambers of Congress, including Senate seats in deep-red territory like Texas and Kansas, in what has been viewed as a repudiation of Trump-era policies.
White is a longtime friend and ally of Trump’s with deep roots in the Bangor area. He owns property in Bangor and Levant, where he visited his grandparents and cousins growing up. In 2011, he donated $100,000 to upgrade Hermon High School’s athletic complex.
“My time up there meant so much to me and I loved the place so much that I bought the whole street that my grandmother and grandfather lived on,” he told the Bangor Daily News in early 2025, shortly after he attended Trump’s second inauguration. “I went house to house, knocked on everyone’s door and asked if they would sell me their house.”
He would be an unorthodox pick for press secretary only by traditional measures, as Trump has favored allies, media personalities, and those with a pugnacious streak for his cabinet. In June, White hosted a UFC event on the White House lawn.
Whoever becomes the next press secretary will be the third to serve in the role during this administration. Karoline Leavitt, the youngest person to ever become press secretary, stepped down in August. Her successor, political commentator Katie Zacharia, lasted just five days after bumbling through her first appearance with reporters and misrepresenting her credentials as a lawyer.