The Oklahoma senator will assume his new role at the end of the month after being confirmed by his colleagues in a 54-45 vote on Monday, March 23
Credit: Kent Nishimura/Bloomberg via Getty
NEED TO KNOW
- Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin, 48, has been confirmed as the new Homeland Security secretary in a 54-45 vote, setting him up to replace Kristi Noem on March 31
- He will oversee the entire Department of Homeland Security, which includes agencies like ICE, Border Patrol, TSA, FEMA and the Secret Service
- Mullin is the only sitting U.S. senator without a college degree, and has earned a reputation as a combative lawmaker on Capitol Hill
Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin has been confirmed as the new Secretary of Homeland Security, finalizing President Donald Trump's first Cabinet switch of his second term.
Mullin's nomination was approved by his colleagues in the Senate in a 54-45 vote on Monday, March 23, per the Associated Press. Two Democrats, Sen. Martin Heinrich of New Mexico and Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, crossed party lines to vote in favor of Mullin. Only one Republican, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, voted against his confirmation.
Mullin, 48, is expected to take over the Department of Homeland Security on March 31, assuming oversight of several key immigration, security and emergency management agencies, including ICE, TSA, FEMA, Customs and Border Protection, and the Secret Service.
He will step in at a turbulent moment for the DHS, which is in the midst of a partial shutdown as Congress spars over funding for the controversial department.
Outgoing Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem — who is being pushed out of Trump's Cabinet amid scandal after a rocky year on the job — will transition to a much less visible role in the administration at the end of the month, working alongside Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth as a special envoy to the "Shield of the Americas," a newly formed transnational military coalition aiming to combat cartels.
Leading up to Noem's ouster, reports emerged that Trump was “not happy” with her poor performance in recent appearances on Capitol Hill. Noem testified before the Senate and House Judiciary Committees earlier this month in a pair of heated oversight hearings about her leadership of the DHS and its aggressive immigration enforcement actions, including the fatal shootings of Renée Good and Alex Pretti in Minnesota.
Noem also faced questions regarding a $220 million, taxpayer-funded ad campaign that encouraged undocumented immigrants to self-deport. The television ad, which featured Noem on horseback at Mount Rushmore, drew criticism for its self-promotional style, and a ProPublica investigation in November found that DHS had skirted the normal competitive bidding process in awarding contracts for the campaign to a firm with longstanding personal and business ties to Noem and senior department aides.
Noem told lawmakers that Trump had signed off on the campaign, though the president quickly distanced himself from the project, telling Reuters shortly afterward, "I never knew anything about it."
Credit: DHS photo by Tia Dufour
Just one day after Noem's hearings concluded, Trump posted that he was nominating Mullin for her job, writing on Truth Social, “I am pleased to announce that the Highly Respected United States Senator from the Great State of Oklahoma, Markwayne Mullin, will become the United States Secretary of Homeland Security (DHS), effective March 31, 2026.”
“The current secretary, Kristi Noem, who has served us well, and has had numerous and spectacular results (especially on the Border!), will be moving to be the Special Envoy for The Shield of the Americas, our new Security Initiative in the Western Hemisphere we are announcing on Saturday in Doral, Florida,” he added in the March 5 post. “I thank Kristi for her service at ‘Homeland.’ ”
Mullin, a member of the Cherokee Nation, has served as a senator for Oklahoma since January 2023, earning a confrontational reputation on Capitol Hill that came up in his confirmation hearing on Wednesday, March 18. Prior to becoming a senator, he spent 10 years in the U.S. House.
Mullin is the only sitting senator without a bachelor's degree or higher. He joined his family business at a young age and went on to host a home improvement radio show before entering politics.
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