Wrestler, senator, tribal citizen: Who is Markwayne Mullin, Trump’s pick to lead DHS?
Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin appears poised to become the next Homeland Security secretary this month. He will take the helm of an imposing agency, strained by the government shutdown, on alert in the face of increased risks of war in Iran and under pressure to carry out mass expulsions.
Mr. Mullin’s rise to a Cabinet appointment might have seemed improbable to the rancher, a former mixed martial arts fighter and college wrestler, who entered Congress in 2013 as a political outsider. “I didn’t even buy my first suit until I won the primary,” the Republican said as a freshman in the House.
At that time, Mr. Mullin pledged to serve no more than three terms — although he ultimately served five before running for the Senate. He then declared that he did not want to waste time in Washington and “be part of the problem”.
Why we wrote this
A leadership change is underway at the Department of Homeland Security at a critical time for the agency. Republicans are counting on Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin, a former wrestler and plumbing company owner, to deal with pressures, including the loss of government funding.
President Donald Trump sees the Oklahoman as a solution. Two weeks ago, the president fired DHS Secretary Kristi Noem after months of growing controversies related to her leadership, including conflict of interest issues. When Mr. Trump chose Mr. Mullin to replace him, calling him a “MAGA warrior,” the lawmaker expressed a mix of gratitude and surprise. Mr. Mullin will face his Senate colleagues at a confirmation hearing on Wednesday.
“President Trump is committed to restoring law and order, and he quickly established the most secure U.S. border in American history,” Mr. Mullin said in a social media post after announcing his nomination. He said he looked forward to supporting Mr. Trump’s mission “to protect the American people and defend the homeland.”
If confirmed, the father of six will become the boss of more than 260,000 people – overseeing airport and border security, immigration controls, the Secret Service and the Coast Guard. He will take over at a tense time. The partial shutdown of DHS strained resources for five weeks and left thousands without pay, while the war in Iran increases threats to the country. The funding freeze began when congressional Democrats demanded changes in the conduct of immigration officers and agents after the fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis in January. Lawmakers still don’t appear to be close to a resolution.
Mr. Mullin, who owned and operated a plumbing business before his years in government, has no law enforcement experience. But that has been the case for most Senate-confirmed secretaries since DHS was created after 9/11. A major quality could be his loyalty, and resulting access, to President Trump. Observers also say Mr. Mullin’s bipartisan connections could stand him in good stead during the confirmation process and beyond.
“He’s actually well-liked on both sides. He’s someone who’s going to be fair,” Republican Sen. John Boozman of Arkansas told the Monitor. He predicts that Mr. Mullin “will have no difficulty in obtaining confirmation.”
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Rural roots
The first-term senator grew up in rural Westville, a town in eastern Oklahoma where his family owns a cow-calf operation. He was seen in the halls of Congress wearing a cowboy hat.
Mr. Mullin married his high school sweetheart in the late 1990s, around the time the Christian says he “gave my heart to the Lord.” Her father, struggling with health problems, offered the newlyweds his heavily indebted plumbing business.
The younger Mullin says he saved the company, then started several others. According to him, administrative formalities propelled him into politics.
“I got tired of the fact that the biggest threat to our way of life was the federal government,” he told an interviewer in 2013. “I couldn’t keep up with the number of regulations. »
Mr. Mullin spent a decade in the House before joining the Senate following a special election in 2022.
His athletic legacy, as a wrestler and mixed martial arts fighter, followed him to Washington. Ten years ago, the Oklahoma chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame honored Mr. Mullin with an “Outstanding American” award, noting that a “recurring shoulder injury” had interrupted his dream of wrestling at a major college. He left higher education without a bachelor’s degree – he would be the only current senator without one. Mr. Mullin earned an associate’s degree from Oklahoma State University.
“Faith and family are very important to Markwayne,” says Lee Roy Smith, executive director of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame and a former wrestler himself. “It seems like everyone knows him because he’s a very nice guy,” says Mr. Smith, who says Mr. Mullin is a donor to his organization. “He’s tough when he needs to be. But he’s a networker and a collaborator.”
Mr. Smith claims the senator helped Mr. Trump attend some NCAA wrestling championship matches. According to Mr. Mullin, the president comforted one of the senator’s sons after a serious wrestling injury in 2020, calling him every week for 18 months.
“I’m not saying [President Tump]“He’s the most moral man there is,” Mr. Mullin said in a podcast in 2024. “But when it comes to being a father and a leader, this guy is right.”
Mr. Mullin reciprocated that loyalty. On January 6, 2021, he voted to block President Joe Biden’s election victory (after helping to barricade a door to the U.S. Capitol against rioters seeking entry earlier in the day).
Assessment at Congress
The lawmaker faced a few bumps in the road. Mr. Mullin made headlines in 2023 for picking a fight with a union leader during a Senate hearing, telling him: “If you want to talk… We can end it here.” Two years later, the two men made enough repairs to jointly support a candidate for secretary of labor.
Mr. Mullin also responded to allegations of financial disclosure violations; the senator’s office acknowledged the late filings. The New York Times recently reported that his assets grew from about $2.8 million to $9 million when he first entered Congress, to between $29 million and $97 million in 2024. Much of that appears to come from the value of his plumbing business, which he sold to a private equity firm in 2021. He also made a number of lucrative stock trades during his time in Congress. Members of Congress are not prohibited from trading individual stocks.
If confirmed, Mr. Mullin would come to DHS with relevant expertise. For one thing, Mr. Mullin served on the Senate Armed Services Committee. As DHS secretary, he would oversee the Coast Guard, which, alongside other services, has expanded to the southern border.
An enrolled citizen of the Cherokee Nation, Mr. Mullin also served on the Senate Indian Affairs Committee. In Minnesota and beyond, tribal members say racial profiling by federal immigration agents has led to unwarranted stops and arrests. DHS has denied the allegations.
Proponents of strong immigration enforcement say it is important that the DHS secretary respect the institutional expertise of officials who report to him.
The men and women of DHS “just want someone to lead them,” says Scott Mechkowski, retired deputy director of the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. “It takes someone who’s not there and trying to make themselves known and catapult themselves politically or financially to the next level.”
After being sidelined by the outgoing secretary, White House border czar Tom Homan is making a “concerted effort” to build relationships with Mr. Mullin, Politico reported.
“Man for the moment”
MAGA credentials aside, Mr. Mullin has a reputation for reaching across the aisle.
He led bipartisan workouts in a House gym. Some colleagues have nicknamed the senator the “House whisperer” – due to his talent for liaising with the Lower House.
Senator John Fetterman has already made it clear that Mr. Mullin has his vote. “I don’t know why other Democrats wouldn’t want to vote to support him for a new chapter here,” he told reporters last week. Elsewhere, the Pennsylvania Democrat described Mr Mullin as an improvement over Ms Noem and a “good guy”.
“We both agree that we will not have a tragedy comparable to the one in Minneapolis,” Mr. Fetterman says. The objective now, he adds, is to “secure our border, expel all the criminals”.
Meanwhile, Mr Mullin enjoys massive support from his right-wing colleagues.
“Markwayne loves this country, and he’s going to do everything in his power to protect it, to protect our citizens,” Republican Sen. Katie Britt of Alabama told the Monitor.
“I think he’s the man of the moment, and I think he’s going to deliver,” she says. “And the president knows it.”
Sarah Matusek reported from Denver and Caitlin Babcock from Washington.
