Get to know the next secretary of homeland security

                                                                

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MARCH 12, 2026

Last week, President Donald Trump tapped Sen. Markwayne Mullin to be the next secretary of homeland security, replacing Kristi Noem, whose tenure was dogged by controversy. We look into the money that has powered his political career. Mullin's leadership PAC was not among the most active in 2023-2024, but our Chart of the Week breaks down which ones were the most generous. And if you have not yet tried our political donations calculator, now is a good time with primaries heating up.

Trump administration profile: Markwayne Mullin Shortly after firing Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem amid mounting criticism over her leadership, President Donald Trump announced on March 5 that he would nominate Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) to replace her atop the Cabinet department.  Under Noem, DHS took on a high-profile role directing Trump’s immigration and deportation policies. Both Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) fall under Homeland Security, and those agencies have been criticized for their treatment of detainees and their roles in the shooting deaths of two citizens in Minneapolis.   Mulllin, a member of the Cherokee Nation, has emerged as a close Trump ally and has defended ICE agents while backing the administration’s hardline approach to border security. Trump said Mullin would take over the role on March 31, though he must first be confirmed by the Senate. Under federal law, Mullin could serve as acting secretary while his nomination is pending. Mullin has served in Congress since 2013, first representing Oklahoma in the House of Representatives for five terms before winning a 2022 special election to the Senate to replace longtime Republican Sen. Jim Inhofe, who resigned due to health issues.  On his campaign website, Mullins said the U.S. should enforce immigration laws, reinstate the “Remain in Mexico” policy and finish building a wall along the southern border. Before entering Congress, Mullin ran his family’s plumbing company in Oklahoma, operated several businesses and hosted a home improvement radio show. A former collegiate wrestler, he also competed as a mixed martial arts fighter. Emma Sullivan did a deep dive into his fundraising history. Follow the money Mullin raised $14.1 million from 2011 to 2024, according to OpenSecrets data. He raised nearly $7.8 million across five House races, $5.4 million during the 2022 Senate special election. He raised $3 million in 2025, but used $400,000 of that to pay himself back for a $1 million loan he made to his campaign in 2022. From 2011 to 2024, the oil and gas industry was Mullin’s largest donor, giving $1.3 million in total, with Oklahoma-based independent energy company Devon Energy ranking as his top contributor. Employees and the company’s PAC donated a combined $104,950. In his most recent election in 2022, his largest contributor was AIPAC, whose members collectively donated $89,000 to his campaign. Small individual donations accounted for just 5.5 percent of Mullin’s fundraising during the 2022 election cycle. Large individual contributions made up 46.7 percent of his funding, while political action committees accounted for 24.6 percent and Mullin provided 18.4 percent of his campaign funds through self-financing. Boots PAC, Mullin’s leadership PAC, has directed 100 percent of its political contributions to Republican candidates. In the 2024 cycle, the PAC raised $1.29 million and distributed $193,000 to Republican candidates for House and Senate seats. Before entering Congress, Mullin owned plumbing businesses that grew to employ more than 300 workers. Financial disclosures show he reported a private-sector salary of about $92,000 in 2012 and between $200,000 and $2 million in income from his family companies, according to Business Insider. The Tulsa World later reported that Mullin’s wealth rose to at least $31 million after the sale of his plumbing business to HomeTown Services.  Why It Matters Additional profiles Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) Chris Wright, energy secretary Tom Homan, border czar Steve Witkoff, special envoy to the Middle East Mike Huckabee, ambassador to Israel Lori Chavez-DeRemer, secretary of labor J.D. Vance, vice president Chuck Schumer, Senate minority leader John Ratcliffe, director of the CIA Doug Collins, secretary of veterans affairs Hakeem Jeffries, House minority leader Lee Zeldin, EPA administrator Howard Lutnick, secretary of commerce Mike Waltz, national security advisor Marco Rubio, secretary of state Sean Duffy, secretary of transportation Susie Wiles, White House chief of staff Tulsi Gabbard, director national intelligence Kash Patel, director of the FBI Kristi Noem, secretary of homeland security Robert F. Kennedy Jr., secretary of health and human services Linda McMahon, secretary of education Elise Stefanik, ambassador to the United Nations Doug Burgum, secretary of the interior Pete Hegseth, secretary of defense Pam Bondi, attorney general

Chart of the Week Putting the ‘leader’ in leadership PAC Politicians, even newly elected members of Congress, often create “leadership political action committees” to distribute funds to other candidates. Leadership PACs allow them to raise up to $5,000 per year from individuals and other PACs, even if those donors have already maxed out to the affiliated candidate’s campaign committee.  By making contributions to other candidates, ambitious lawmakers can gain clout among their colleagues, boosting their bids for leadership posts, committee chairmanships or even higher office.  The 791 leadership PACs active during the 2023-2024 election cycle collectively donated $80 million to candidates, with $47.6 million going to Republicans and $31.7 million to Democrats. Most of the leadership PACs that gave out the biggest totals in the 2024 cycle were affiliated with the active or past members of their respective parties’ House leadership teams.

The Donor Power Planner: Calculate your political giving Imagine it’s 2028 and you want to support your favorite political candidates but you aren’t sure how much you can give and how to do it. Between candidates, political parties, political action committees and super PACs, there are myriad ways you can support the people and platforms that appeal to your values.  This interactive tool will guide you through the various ways individuals can donate to political campaigns and organizations, based on current federal campaign finance laws and donations caps (2025-2026 cycle limits, as adjusted for inflation where applicable). See how your donations stack up against the biggest donors from 2024. Get Started Dive in to Donor Lookup Want to know who’s funding the candidates and causes shaping our democracy? With OpenSecrets.org’s Donor Lookup, you can quickly and easily: Search millions of federal campaign contributions by name, employer, or location. See who’s giving to which candidates, parties and PACs. Explore patterns of political giving that help explain the forces behind elections. Whether you’re a concerned voter, journalist, researcher, or just a curious citizen, Donor Lookup puts transparency at your fingertips. Try It Now Newsreel and OpenSecrets Partner to Bring Money-in-Politics Reporting to Gen Z OpenSecrets and Newsreel, the interactive news platform built for digital-first audiences, on Monday announced a content partnership in which our award-winning reporting will be adapted into Newsreel’s swipeable, interactive format and distributed to the Newsreel audience. The partnership comes at a moment when trust in political institutions is low and young Americans are increasingly tuning out traditional news. Newsreel was built on the premise that the problem isn’t that people don’t care about what’s happening — it’s that the formats used to tell them aren’t built for how they consume information. OpenSecrets’ reporting on dark money, lobbying, and campaign finance is exactly the kind of accountability journalism that matters to this generation. It just hasn’t been reaching them. Under the pilot, Newsreel will adapt OpenSecrets’ published editorial stories into its interactive slide format using AI-assisted summarization and editorial review, preserving the substance and sourcing of the original reporting while making it accessible on mobile. All content will credit OpenSecrets as the original source and link back to the full story. Download the App

What else we're reading The Scale of Billionaires’ Campaign Donations is Overwhelming U.S. Politics (The New York Times) Bill requires candidates to raise at least half their money within Georgia (WABE) Oregon Legislature passes campaign finance bill over good government pushback (Oregon Public Broadcasting) US Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi raises millions for Illinois Senate bid as fundraising draws scrutiny (Chicago Tribune)

OpenSecrets in the News See our media citations from outlets around the nation this week: Democrats ask what happened to millions earmarked for Trump’s library (The Washington Post) But the Donald J. Trump Presidential Library Fund, Inc., which was set to receive at least some of the settlement funding, was administratively dissolved last September by Florida officials after it did not submit a mandatory annual report. Three months later, Jacob Roth, the lawyer who originally incorporated the fund, filed articles of dissolution, OpenSecrets first reported last year.  Alabama legislation would ban foreign money in state elections (Yellowhammer News) Roberts pointed to loopholes that have allowed foreign money to flow into ballot issue campaigns — constitutional amendments and referendums — even under the federal ban. A 2021 analysis by OpenSecrets found $33.5 million in individual political contributions came from foreign agents and lobbyists during the 2020 election cycle despite the federal prohibition. Foreign nationals are permitted to hire U.S. citizens to lobby and donate on their behalf.  What to know about the businesses Trump is visiting in Cincinnati (Cincinnati Enquirer) The oil and gas industry spent more than $70 million lobbying the federal government in the first half of 2025, according to data from the nonprofit organization OpenSecrets. That puts the industry slightly below the pace of its spending in 2024, which multiple watchdog groups described as evidence that the industry hasn’t had to lobby the government as intensely as in past years to secure key wins.  A Trump Order Protected a Weedkiller. And Also a Weapon of War. (The New York Times) Bayer spent more than $9 million last year to pay 53 lobbyists registered to represent the company’s interests with the White House and various federal agencies as well as in Congress, according to OpenSecrets, a nonpartisan group that tracks lobbying and campaign finance data. Washington Journal (C-SPAN) “If you want to go and look at spending by political action committees, by candidates, where they are giving money, who candidate organizations are giving money to afterwards and who is giving money, it‘s all available at OpenSecrets.org.” See More

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