{"id":19637,"date":"2026-03-05T22:16:51","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T22:16:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/markwayne-mullin-faces-a-straightforward-path-to-confirmation-as-dhs-secretary\/"},"modified":"2026-03-05T22:16:51","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T22:16:51","slug":"markwayne-mullin-faces-a-straightforward-path-to-confirmation-as-dhs-secretary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/markwayne-mullin-faces-a-straightforward-path-to-confirmation-as-dhs-secretary\/","title":{"rendered":"Markwayne Mullin faces a straightforward path to confirmation as DHS secretary"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

In replacing ousted Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Donald Trump is opting for one of the more reliable strategies to guarantee a quick Senate confirmation \u2014 nominating a senator.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s choice of Sen. Markwayne Mullin<\/a> of Oklahoma sets up a relatively straightforward process, with some Senate Democrats already indicating they are open to voting for him.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been successful at whipping everybody the president has nominated, and I expect the same for Markwayne Mullin,\u201d Sen. John Barrasso <\/a>of Wyoming, the No. 2 Senate Republican, said Thursday.<\/p>\n

Senate Majority Leader John Thune<\/a> separately told reporters that he wanted to move Mullin\u2019s nomination \u201cquickly.\u201d Trump did not indicate in his Truth Social post when he would send Mullin\u2019s nomination to the Senate, but said he would take over \u201ceffective March 31.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s obviously pretty well-vetted around here, so hopefully we can get the process going,\u201d Thune said.<\/p>\n

Mullin thanked Trump for the nomination in a statement Thursday and said, \u201cI look forward to earning the support of my colleagues in the Senate and carrying out President Trump\u2019s mission alongside the department\u2019s many capable agencies and the thousands of patriots who keep us safe every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Noem was confirmed 59-34 by the Senate, but she lost the confidence of many of the lawmakers who voted to confirm her more than a year ago. Republican Sens. Thom Tillis<\/a> of North Carolina and Lisa Murkowski<\/a> of Alaska both called on her to step down after DHS agents killed 37-year-old Alex Pretti in Minneapolis and she labeled him a \u201cdomestic terrorist\u201d without evidence.<\/p>\n

Both Tillis and Murkowski praised Mullin Thursday in the immediate wake of Trump\u2019s announcement.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe’s a man of his word. I think he’ll go in, get experts in there, and prove to be an executive with the right kind of skills, and get things squared away quickly,\u201d Tillis said, adding that the decision was good for Trump\u2019s \u201clegacy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tillis noted separately<\/a> that Mullin \u201clikes dogs,\u201d an apparent reference to a story Noem included in her memoir about killing a misbehaving dog named Cricket.<\/p>\n

Murkowski said she had a \u201cgreat deal of respect\u201d for Mullin.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has been a really good liaison<\/a> between the Senate, actually the whole Congress, and the White House,\u201d Murkowski said. \u201cI\u2019ve got strong respect for the guy, so I think he\u2019ll do a good job<\/p>\n

Sen. James Lankford<\/a> of Oklahoma, a member of GOP leadership, acknowledged that Mullin\u2019s nomination is unlikely to be unanimous, but he thought he would be treated \u201cfairly\u201d by his Senate colleagues.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s rare for current or former senators to see their nominations to administration posts derailed, but it has happened \u2014 most famously in 1989, when the Senate rejected John Tower\u2019s nomination as Defense secretary amid charges of alcoholism and womanizing. More recently, Sens. Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) and Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) withdrew their nominations under then-President Barack Obama in 2009.<\/p>\n

Republicans can confirm any of Trump\u2019s nominees on their own as long as most of their own members stay united. But they\u2019ll get at least a little help: Sen. John Fetterman <\/a>(D-Pa.) said Thursday he will support Mullin\u2019s nomination \u2014 a nod that could be especially important because he\u2019s on the committee that must advance Mullin\u2019s nomination to the full Senate.<\/p>\n

Other Senate Democrats, including Minority Leader Chuck Schumer<\/a>, are telegraphing they will oppose Mullin as they also blockade DHS funding over the department\u2019s aggressive immigration enforcement tactics.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Senate should not consider any DHS Secretary nominee until DHS and ICE are reined in,\u201d Schumer wrote on X Thursday, saying he would vote against Mullin.<\/p>\n

But other Democrats, including Sen. Chris Coons<\/a> of Delaware, left the door open to supporting the eventual nomination.<\/p>\n

<\/a>\u201cI’m open to it, but he’s going to have to make real changes,\u201d Coons said.<\/p>\n

There is one potential pitfall: Mullin reportedly recently called<\/a> Sen. Rand Paul<\/a> (R-Ky.), the chair of the DHS-overseeing committee, a \u201cfreaking snake.\u201d Paul has broad latitude to schedule and advance the director\u2019s nomination.<\/p>\n

Spokespeople for Paul didn\u2019t immediately respond to a request for comment on Mullin\u2019s nomination.<\/p>\n

Katherine Tully-McManus, Meredith Lee Hill and Calen Razor contributed to this report.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In replacing ousted Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Donald Trump is opting for one of the more reliable strategies to guarantee a quick Senate confirmation \u2014 nominating a senator. Trump\u2019s choice of Sen. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma sets up a relatively straightforward process, with some Senate Democrats already indicating they are open to voting for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19637","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-congress"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19637","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19637"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19637\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19637"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19637"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19637"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}