Markwayne Mullin

Quick facts

• Full name: Markwayne Mullin
• Born: July 26, 1977, Tulsa, Oklahoma
• Tribal citizenship: Cherokee Nation; first Native American U.S. senator since Ben Nighthorse Campbell retired in 2005
• Education: Stilwell High School; attended Missouri Valley College on a wrestling scholarship, left at age 20
• Business: Owner of Mullin Plumbing, the family business he took over at 20 and grew into the largest service company in the region
• Current role: U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security (sworn in March 24, 2026)

Key positions

Biography

Markwayne Mullin was born in Tulsa in 1977, the youngest of seven children, and grew up on his family’s ranch in Westville, Oklahoma. He attended Missouri Valley College on a wrestling scholarship but left at age 20 when his father fell ill, taking over Mullin Plumbing and expanding it with his wife Christie into the largest service company in the region. He is a former professional MMA fighter — his Senate biography claims an undefeated 5-0 record, though Sherdog records three bouts in 2006–07 under the Xtreme Fighting League — and was inducted into the Oklahoma Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2016. A Cherokee Nation citizen, he is the first Native American U.S. senator since Ben Nighthorse Campbell retired in 2005.

Mullin represented Oklahoma’s 2nd congressional district from 2013 to 2023. He campaigned on a central promise to serve only three terms, then broke that pledge in 2018 to run for a fourth, stating “my life experience changed” — a reversal that drew rebukes from former Senator Tom Coburn and term-limits groups. His House tenure carried a multi-year ethics matter: the Office of Congressional Ethics referred him to the House Ethics Committee in December 2013 over continued involvement in Mullin Plumbing while in office, including roughly $600,000 in earned income and appearances in company advertisements. The Committee found he had made “good faith efforts” to comply but ordered him to repay $40,000 mistakenly paid to him in 2013. In August 2021, during the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, Mullin attempted an unauthorized private rescue mission, asking the U.S. ambassador to Tajikistan for help moving a large amount of cash into the country; embassy officials denied the request and Mullin reportedly threatened staff, while the Pentagon turned his aircraft away from Kabul.

He won the 2022 special election for Jim Inhofe’s Senate seat and served on the Armed Services, Appropriations, HELP, and Indian Affairs committees. During a November 14, 2023 HELP Committee hearing he stood from his chair appearing ready to fight Teamsters president Sean O’Brien, prompting Chairman Bernie Sanders to gavel him down; the two later reconciled. Mullin also drafted legislation, at the Cherokee Nation’s behest, that would terminate the smaller United Keetoowah Band’s trust-land and economic-development rights on the shared Northeastern Oklahoma reservation — language the UKB learned of only through a FOIA request, and which its chief Jeff Wacoche called “a deliberate, targeted act of tribal termination.”

When Donald Trump fired DHS Secretary Kristi Noem on March 5, 2026, he nominated Mullin to replace her; the Senate confirmed him on a 54–45 vote, with Rand Paul the only Republican opposed and Democrats John Fetterman and Martin Heinrich crossing over in support. As secretary, Mullin has a documented, multi-year ally relationship — attendee, speaker, and longtime friend of the founder, not formal membership — with City Elders, a Tulsa-based New Apostolic Reformation / Seven-Mountains dominionist network founded by Pentecostal evangelist Jesse Leon Rodgers, whose stated mission is “governing the gates of every city in America to establish the kingdom of God.” Mullin spoke at a City Elders gathering on October 6, 2023, and Frederick Clarkson of Political Research Associates assesses that he “views City Elders as a critical component of his Christian Right electoral base.” The defensible claim is narrow: a sitting DHS Secretary running deportation enforcement maintains a documented, multi-year ally relationship with an openly theocratic dominionist network.

Sources

• “What to know about Markwayne Mullin, Trump’s new Homeland Security pick,” Axios, March 5, 2026 — https://www.axios.com/2026/03/05/markwayne-mullin-homeland-security-secretary-nominee
• “Markwayne Mullin,” Wikipedia — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Markwayne_Mullin
• “Ethics Committee Orders Markwayne Mullin to Pay Back $40,000,” Roll Call, August 10, 2018 — https://rollcall.com/2018/08/10/ethics-committee-orders-markwayne-mullin-to-pay-back-40000/
• “Rep. Markwayne Mullin threatened embassy staff as he tried to enter Afghanistan,” Washington Post, August 31, 2021 — https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/mullin-afghanistan-trip/2021/08/31/62f63bb0-0a90-11ec-a256-709238a1404d_story.html
• “Mulling over Mullin and Theocratic Creep in the GOP,” Frederick Clarkson, Political Research Associates, April 2, 2026 — https://politicalresearch.org/2026/04/02/mulling-over-mullin-and-theocratic-creep-gop
• “Markwayne Mullin has ties to Oklahoma theistic group,” Baptist News Global, April 2026 — https://baptistnews.com/article/markwayne-mullin-has-ties-to-oklahoma-theistic-group/