{"id":516978,"date":"2026-03-06T00:01:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T00:01:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/516978\/"},"modified":"2026-03-06T00:01:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T00:01:08","slug":"who-is-senator-markwayne-mullin-meet-new-dhs-chief","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/516978\/","title":{"rendered":"Who is Senator Markwayne Mullin? Meet new DHS chief"},"content":{"rendered":"

President Trump<\/a> has selected Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) \u2014 a former undefeated MMA fighter \u2014 to replace Kristi Noem<\/a> as secretary of Homeland Security, branding him a \u201cMAGA Warrior\u201d and lauding his impressive career in the octagon.<\/p>\n

Mullin, 48, was elected to the Senate in 2022 to serve out the remainder of the late Sen. Jim Inhofe\u2019s term and was up for re-election to a full six-year term later this year. <\/p>\n

He previously represented the Sooner State in the House of Representatives for a decade.<\/p>\n

Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) leaving the Capitol building shortly after President Trump announced him as Kristi Noem\u2019s successor at the Department of Homeland Security on March 5, 2026. REUTERS<\/p>\n

A married father of six children, three of whom are adopted, Mullin is also a citizen of the Cherokee Nation and is the only current senator to not hold at least a bachelor\u2019s degree.<\/p>\n

Mullin\u2019s background includes a brief successful career as an MMA fighter (record: 5-0), as well as the owner of a family plumbing company.<\/p>\n

In 2023, Mullin went viral for challenging Teamsters President Sean O\u2019Brien to a fight<\/a> during a Senate hearing after the two had sparred on social media.<\/p>\n

What is his relationship with President Trump?<\/p>\n

Mullin is known for his close relationship with President Trump.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe president, as you guys know, we\u2019re great friends, and we get along great. I look forward to working with him in his cabinet,\u201d Mullin told reporters on Capitol Hill on Thursday.<\/p>\n

The president returned the sentiment in a Truth Social post announcing Noem\u2019s departure and that he would be taking the reins, saying he\u2019s done a \u201ctremendous job\u201d representing Oklahoma and will make a \u201cspectacular\u201d DHS secretary.<\/p>\n

Mullin talks with President Trump during the NCAA D1 Wrestling Championships at the BOK Center. USA TODAY Sports<\/p>\n

\u201cA MAGA Warrior, and former undefeated professional MMA fighter, Markwayne truly gets along well with people, and knows the Wisdom and Courage required to Advance our America First Agenda,\u201d Trump said, touting his Cherokee heritage.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs the only Native American in the Senate, Markwayne is a fantastic advocate for our incredible Tribal Communities,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cMarkwayne will work tirelessly to Keep our Border Secure, Stop Migrant Crime, Murderers, and other Criminals from illegally entering our Country, End the Scourge of Illegal Drugs and, MAKE AMERICA SAFE AGAIN.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sen. Mullin speaks to reporters following a briefing by Trump administration officials to members of the Senate on U.S. strikes on Iran, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC on March 3, 2026. Nathan Posner\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n

What is Markwayne Mullin\u2019s political background?<\/p>\n

Mullin was first elected to the US House in 2012 to represent Oklahoma\u2019s 2nd Congressional District. He ran as a political outsider and leaned into his rancher background.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s maintained his tight relationships with the US House \u2014 even after being elected to the Senate in 2022 to succeed the retiring GOP Sen. Jim Inhofe.<\/p>\n

Mullin speaks to the press outside of the Capitol after President Trump tapped him as the next head of the Department of Homeland Security on March 5, 2026. AP<\/p>\n

That same year, Mullin introduced resolutions to purge Trump\u2019s impeachments from the Congressional Record, with support from House Republican Conference Chair Elisae Stefanik (R-NY).<\/p>\n

However, the Democratic-led House at the time did not pass the measures.<\/p>\n

Mullin, who has six kids, is a staunch abortion opponent, including in cases of rape or incest or if the pregnancy puts the mother\u2019s life at risk.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sen. Markwayne Mullin speaks during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, Jan. 14, 2025, on Capitol Hill in Washington. AP<\/p>\n

He famously said during the 2022 Republican runoff election that if his own wife was at risk during pregnancy neither he nor she would want to get an abortion.<\/p>\n

In 2020, Mullin, along with Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard \u2014 who was then a representative from Hawaii \u2014 introduced the Protect Women\u2019s Sports Act, which would have cracked down on institutions allowing biological male athletes from competing against women or girls.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the latest on the firing of Kristi Noem<\/p>\n

\u201cFemale student athletes are being placed against biologically male peers where the competition is so disproportionate that it\u2019s tough to even consider it \u2018competition,’\u201d he said in a statement at the time.<\/p>\n

Mullin voted in favor of President Trump\u2019s signature One Big Beautiful Bill Act last year.<\/p>\n

Sen. Mullin and Sen. Lisa Murkowski speak at Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., December 11, 2025. REUTERS<\/p>\n

What is next for Markwayne Mullin?<\/p>\n

The DHS secretary must be approved by the Senate. Mullin would be expected to have a confirmation hearing before his colleagues and then receive a full vote on the Senate floor. <\/p>\n

Mullin is likely to sail through the confirmation process in the GOP-led Senate. One Democrat is already supporting him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not sure how many fellow Democrats will vote to support our colleague [Mullin] as the next DHS Secretary, but I am AYE,\u201d Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) wrote on social media.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"President Trump has selected Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) \u2014 a former undefeated MMA fighter \u2014 to replace Kristi…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":516979,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[444],"tags":[49,48,39507,1376,641,13165,204534,638,5400,714,82,886],"class_list":["post-516978","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-department-of-homeland-security","tag-donald-trump","tag-fighting","tag-kristi-noem","tag-markwayne-mullin","tag-mma","tag-oklahoma","tag-politics","tag-sports","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/516978","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=516978"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/516978\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/516979"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=516978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=516978"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=516978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}