# Markwayne Mullin ## Summary U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security since March 23, 2026 (Trump cabinet). Former U.S. Senator from Oklahoma (January 2023 – March 2026). Former U.S. Rep (OK-02, 2013–2023). Businessman — Mullin Plumbing. Mixed-martial-arts fighter background. Resigned his Senate seat to serve as DHS Secretary after [[Kristi Noem]] was fired from the post. ## Senate career - Won 2022 special election to fill Jim Inhofe's seat; sworn in January 2023 - Armed Services, Commerce, Indian Affairs committees - Reliable MAGA-aligned vote; close Trump relationship throughout second-term transition - Notable floor moment: 2023 on-record threat to fight Sean O'Brien (Teamsters president) during a committee hearing, intervened by Sen. [[Bernie Sanders]] ## Cabinet move (March 2026) - Trump **fired** [[Kristi Noem]] as DHS Secretary on **March 5, 2026** — the first Cabinet secretary dismissed in his second term — and reassigned her to Special Envoy for the Shield of the Americas. Mullin was named to succeed her - Senate Homeland Security Committee advanced the nomination **8-7** on March 18, 2026 - **Confirmed 54-45 on March 23, 2026** (52 Republicans plus Fetterman and Heinrich; Rand Paul the lone Republican opposed); resigned his Senate seat the same day and was sworn in as Secretary **March 24, 2026** > [!warning] Correction, 2026-09-03 > This page previously stated that Mullin succeeded Noem "after Noem departed to run for governor." That is wrong. Noem was **fired on March 5, 2026** following hostile congressional testimony, and was moved to a special-envoy role — she did not resign to seek a governorship. The confusion likely arose from her earlier tenure as Governor of South Dakota (2019-2025), which she left to join the Cabinet in January 2025. Corrected against ABC News and Washington Post reporting of March 5, 2026; see [[Kristi Noem]], which carried the correct account. - Gov. [[Kevin Stitt]] appointed **Alan Armstrong** as non-candidate placeholder - See [[OK-Sen-2026]] for the resulting special election ## ICE at polling places (September 2026) At a **September 1, 2026** news conference in New York City announcing the results of an ICE operation, Mullin declined to rule out sending [[ICE]] agents to polling places ahead of the November midterm election: > The only reason why we would be at polling places is if there is a threat to that polling place or we're serving a warrant on someone that we have been actively tracking down. ICE's job is immigration, customs enforcement. That's their job... if we're serving a warrant we will be where we need to be. The statement drew immediate objection that it conflicts with **18 U.S.C. § 592**, which makes it a felony for any person in the civil, military, or naval service of the United States to keep "any troops or armed men at any place where a general or special election is held," absent the need to repel armed enemies — punishable by up to five years and disqualification from federal office. The remarks landed the same week as the [[Tarrant County Polling Site Reduction]] and the [[USPS Federal Ballot Mail Portal]] disclosures, and were read together with them as elements of a federal effort to shape the administration of the [[2026 Midterm Elections]]. DHS subsequently said it had no plans to station agents at polls. ## The noncitizen-voter numbers, July–September 2026 In **July 2026**, Mullin and [[Donald Trump]] announced that DHS had identified more than **270,000** noncitizens on the voter rolls of California, Nevada, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Mullin gave the Nevada figure as **15,903**. The claim did not survive contact with the state's records: | Stage | Figure | Date | |---|---|---| | Mullin's public claim for Nevada | 15,903 noncitizens on the rolls | July 2026 | | DHS concedes the number was inflated in a meeting with Nevada officials; sends a list of names it says it manually confirmed | 185 | August 2026 | | Nevada checks all 185 and reports back to the federal government | 0 — all 185 are U.S. citizens | Tuesday, September 22, 2026 | > [!quote] [[Francisco Aguilar]], Nevada Secretary of State, September 2026 > "Our records do not support DHS's claims, and DHS has still not provided evidence to change that. Instead, DHS officials continue their attempts to intimidate election officials into compliance and deter voters with huge claims of fraud with no evidence." This is the same department, and the same Secretary, whose polling-place remarks are recorded above, and the pattern is consistent across both: a federal claim about election administration asserted at scale, then narrowed under checking, with the assertion doing the work regardless of whether it survives. See [[Voter Suppression]] for the [[Department of Justice]]'s parallel voter-roll litigation campaign and its record in court. ## Political profile - MAGA-aligned Trump loyalist - Anti-union / pro-right-to-work stances - Generally conservative on immigration — a portfolio fit for DHS ## Related KB entities - [[OK-Sen-2026]] — his vacated seat - [[MAGA]] - [[Donald Trump]] - [[Kristi Noem]] — predecessor at DHS; fired March 5, 2026, reassigned as Special Envoy for the Shield of the Americas - [[Voter Suppression]] — the 2026 noncitizen-roll and DOJ voter-roll campaigns - [[Department of Homeland Security]] · [[ICE]] - [[DHS Daedalus Jet Purchases]] — the ~$304M donor-firm jet buy on Noem's last morning; DHS says it was approved before Mullin was sworn in - [[ICE Voter Records Collection]] — the HSI voter-roll program running under his department in 2026 - TBD: Kevin Stitt — OK Governor ## Sources - [Wikipedia — Markwayne Mullin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Markwayne_Mullin) - [TIME — Who Is Replacing Markwayne Mullin in the Senate?](https://time.com/article/2026/03/24/markwayne-mullin-senate-oklahoma-alan-armstrong/) - [From 16,000 to 185 to zero: Trump's claims of illegal voting in Nevada fizzle — Philadelphia Inquirer, September 24, 2026](https://www.inquirer.com/politics/nation/voter-fraud-nevada-fact-check-20260924.html) - [DHS acknowledges the noncitizen numbers it touted on voter rolls were inflated — NPR, August 25, 2026](https://www.npr.org/2026/08/25/nx-s1-5940807/noncitizen-voters-trump-nevada-call) - [185 would-be illegal Nevada voters were actually citizens, Nevada officials tell DHS — Las Vegas Review-Journal, September 2026](https://www.reviewjournal.com/news/politics-and-government/nevada/185-would-be-illegal-nevada-voters-were-actually-citizens-nevada-officials-tell-dhs-3890837/)