Karoline Leavitt and her husband, Nicholas Riccio, met in 2022 before getting married three years later.

The White House press secretary, 27, and Riccio, 59, welcomed their son, Nicholas Robert Riccio, nicknamed “Niko,” in July 2024. Six months later, the two wed days before President Donald Trump’s second inauguration in January 2025.

As the youngest person in history to hold her role, Leavitt is aware of the attention to her age — and her 32-year age gap with her husband.

“I mean it’s a very atypical love story, but he’s incredible,” she shared during a February 2025 appearance on The Megyn Kelly Show.

So who is Karoline Leavitt’s husband? Here’s everything to know about Nicholas Riccio and his relationship with the White House press secretary.

He is a real estate developer

Riccio grew up in Hudson, N.H., as one of four children. After graduating high school, he attended Plymouth State University during which time he experienced financial insecurity, he told the Sunday Herald in 2005.

Following college, Riccio took a real estate course and pursued a career in the field, eventually becoming a scion in the business with his own company, Riccio Enterprises.

He now owns over 15 buildings in Hampton Beach, N.H., which he rents out to families.

They met during her congressional campaign in 2022

Leavitt shared during her appearance on The Megyn Kelly Show that she and Riccio first met when she was running for a Congress seat in New Hampshire in 2022. While she won the Republican nomination, she lost the election to Democrat Chris Pappas.

“A mutual friend of ours hosted an event at a restaurant that he owns up in New Hampshire and invited my husband,” she recalled. “I was speaking. We met and we were acquainted as friends.”

They have a 32-year age gap

While Riccio is 59, Leavitt is 27. When the two met, she was 25.

When Kelly asked the press secretary whether she was concerned at first about the age gap between her and Riccio, Leavitt admitted that while it is “atypical,” she has found that her husband has been able to be more supportive of her career following the success of his own.

“He’s built a very successful business himself so now he’s fully supportive of me building my success in my career,” she said.

 

Leavitt and Riccio welcomed their son in July 2024

Leavitt and Riccio’s first child, Niko, was born on July 10, 2024. Three days after giving birth, Trump was shot during a July 13 assassination attempt in Butler County, Penn., leading her to cut her maternity leave short and promptly return to work.

“I looked at my husband and said, ‘Looks like I’m going back to work,’ ” she told The Conservateur in October 2024.

Leavitt told Kelly that Riccio has been the “best dad” since the birth of their child.