Markwayne Mullin
Markwayne Mullin (born July 26, 1977) is an American politician and businessman who has served as the junior United States senator from Oklahoma since 2023. A member of the Republican Party, he was elected in a special election in 2022 to serve the remainder of Jim Inhofe's term.
A member of the Cherokee Nation, Mullin is the first Native American U.S. senator since Ben Nighthorse Campbell retired in 2005.
He is also the second Cherokee citizen elected to the Senate since 1925. From 2013 to 2023, Mullin served as the U.S. representative for Oklahoma's 2nd congressional district.
On March 5, 2026, President Donald Trump nominated Mullin as the secretary of homeland security to replace Kristi Noem.[1]
Early life, education, and businesses
Mullin was born on July 26, 1977, in Tulsa, Oklahoma,[2] the youngest of the seven children of Jim Martin Mullin and Brenda Gayle Morris Mullin, of Westville, Oklahoma.[3] His first name is a tribute to two of his paternal uncles, Mark and Wayne; his mother put both names on his birth certificate, intending to later shorten his name to one of the two, but ultimately never did.[4][5][6]
He graduated from Stilwell High School in Stilwell, Oklahoma.[7] He attended Missouri Valley College in 1996, but did not graduate.[2] In 1997, at age 20, Mullin took over his father's business, Mullin Plumbing, when his father fell ill.
In 2010, Mullin received an associate degree in construction technology from Oklahoma State University Institute of Technology.[2][8] He is the only serving senator without at least a bachelor's degree.[9]
At the time he was first elected to Congress in 2012, Mullin hosted House Talk, a home improvement radio program syndicated across Oklahoma, on Tulsa station KFAQ.[10][11][better ^source ^needed]
When elected to Congress, Mullin owned Mullin Properties, Mullin Farms, and Mullin Services, in addition to Mullin Plumbing.[12] In 2012, he reported between $200,000 and $2 million in income from two family companies, and another $15,000 to $50,000 from shares he held in a bank.[13]
At the end of 2021, Mullin's reported assets increased to a range of $31.6 million to $75.6 million, compared to a range of $7.3 million to $29.9 million at the end of 2020.[14] The increase was from the sale of his plumbing-related companies to HomeTown Services, a multi-state residential heating, air conditioning, plumbing and electrical company.[14] Mullin said that the sale happened in early 2021, while Mullin was serving in the House of Representatives.[15]
U.S. House of Representatives
[
](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Deb_Haaland,_Sharice_Davids_and_Markwayne_Mullin_in_2020.png)Congressman Markwayne Mullin (R-OK), along with two of the other (at the time four) Native American Members of Congress, Deb Haaland and Sharice Davids, testified in front of the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Select Revenue Measurers, March 4, 2020
Elections
2012
See also: 2012 United States House of Representatives elections in Oklahoma § District 2
In June 2011, incumbent U.S. representative Dan Boren announced that he would retire at the end of 2012 from his 2nd Congressional District seat.[16] In September 2011, Mullin declared his candidacy for the seat.[17] He branded himself as an outsider; his campaign slogan was "A rancher. A businessman. Not a politician!"[18] In the six-candidate Republican primary, Mullin finished first with 42% of the vote; state representative George Faught ranked second with 23% of the vote.[19] As a majority is required to win a congressional nomination in Oklahoma, a runoff was held; Mullin defeated Faught, 57%–43%.[20]
The district had historically been a Yellow Dog Democrat constituency, but had steadily trended Republican as Democrats lost ground with Southeast Oklahoma's rural whites. For this reason, Mullin was thought to have a good chance of winning the election.[citation ^needed] He defeated the Democratic nominee, former district attorney Rob Wallace, 57%–38%.[21] Mullin was the first Republican to represent the district since Tom Coburn in 2001, and only the second in a century.[22]
Friday, March 06, 2026 11:37AM