Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., speaks to reporters at the U.S. Capitol, March 3, 2026. (Photo by Ashley Murray/States Newsroom)
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs on Thursday voted to advance the nomination of Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin to head the Department of Homeland Security.
On an 8-7 vote, Mullin’s nomination will advance to the Senate.
Thursday’s vote comes a day after Mullin, a Republican, appeared before the committee during a contentious nomination hearing in which GOP chairman Sen. Rand Paul questioned whether Mullin should lead the department given his “anger issues.”
Paul, of Kentucky, voted against awarding the nomination to Mullin, the only Republican on the panel to oppose another senator.
However, because Democratic Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania voted with the rest of the Republicans, Mullin’s nomination increased.
In a statement, Fetterman said his vote to confirm Mullin was “rooted in a strong, committed and constructive working relationship with Senator Mullin in support of our nation’s security.”
During Wednesday’s hearing, Paul took issue with Mullin calling him a “weird snake” and expressed sympathy for a neighbor who attacked Paul in 2017, breaking six of his ribs and injuring a lung.
Mullin told senators at the hearing that he intends to run DHS differently than Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, the former governor of South Dakota, whom the president removed from office earlier this month and reassigned to another position in the administration.
Mullin said he would repeal several policies implemented by Noem, such as requiring the secretary of homeland security to personally approve disaster relief grants.
He added that he wants DHS “not to be in the news every day,” referring to the aggressive enforcement tactics used by immigration agents that were captured on camera, including their involvement in the deaths of two Minneapolis residents.
Mullin will likely vacate his Senate seat after he votes on his own nomination to head DHS. It’s reminiscent of Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s move last year, when he left his U.S. Senate seat representing Florida after voting to confirm his nomination to head the State Department.
The committee’s top Democrat, Sen. Gary Peters of Michigan, said Thursday that DHS “needs a leader who can restore the trust that DHS has broken with the American people” and that he was unsure whether Mullin could handle the challenge.
Peters, like Paul, expressed concerns about Mullin’s “temperament to lead this critical department.”
“The new DHS secretary will have no shortage of political disagreements,” Peters said. “The Department and the American people deserve a leader who is stable and proven under pressure, not just someone better than the very low bar set by his predecessor.”
