March 5, 2026
Who is Senator Markwayne Mullin? And what’s going to happen to the Republican’s Senate majority once he leaves to be the Homeland Security secretary?
Great questions…I would love to answer them for you in this video.
Let me be very clear. It will mean absolutely nothing when Senator Markwayne Mullin leaves the Senate at the end of March. And here’s why. When a Senator leaves his or her seat in the middle of his or her term – the 17th Amendment of the Constitution says that the governor of the state the Senator represents shall appoint a temporary replacement to fill that Senate seat. And the person the governor appoints will then hold that seat for the remainder of the Senator’s term. It’s important for you know – that the constitution says that’s not what happens when a member of the House of Representatives vacates his or her seat. In that situation – the governor cannot fill the empty house seat…instead there must be a special election to fill the remainder of that lawmaker’s term.
But back to Markwayne Mullin. In his case — he is the junior Senator from Oklahoma. A Senator’s term lasts 6 years. Markwayne Mullin was going to be up for re-election in this 2026 midterm anyway. So – what’s going to happen is – the Republican governor of Oklahoma is going to select a Republican to fill Markwayne Mullin’s Senate until the people of Oklahoma – which of course is a very red state — select their new Senator during the November midterms. So I say that nothing is going to change with the Republican majority in the Senate right now — because Oklahoma is just going to swap out one Republican with another. So the numbers aren’t going to change.
But let’s talk about who senator Mullin is. As I mentioned he is from Oklahoma. He owns a plumbing business and is a rancher. He’s married and has six kids. Before he was elected to his senate seat he spent 10 years as the US representative of Oklahoma’s second district. And most recently he has really been a close ally of President Trump. In fact he has been like a republican bridge between the senate and the white house. But he’s also known for his colorful behavior during senate hearings.
It’s worth noting that two years after he nearly came to blows with the teamsters president Sean O’Brien – Senator Mullin appeared with O’Brien in a video to support President Trump’s nominee for labor secretary who was also in that video and eventually was confirmed.
President Trump says Senator Mullin will take over the Department of Homeland Security on March 31st. He must be confirmed by the Senate before he can actually be the secretary. So we will see a confirmation hearing for Mullin and then all he needs is a simple majority – 51 votes to be confirmed and it’s very likely he’s going to get that – and probably more. If he’s not confirmed by the 31st, he’ll probably be considered an “acting” secretary until the formalities are completed.
Watch Markwayne Mullin in hearings here and here.
Make up video with Teamsters president here.
