Trump picks WWE co-founder Linda McMahon as education secretary

President-elect Donald Trump has picked Linda McMahon, a business and wrestling executive and major Republican donor, to lead the Department of Education.

Ms McMahon, a co-chair of Mr Trump’s transition team who has virtually no experience in education, served as director of the Small Business Administration in Mr Trump’s first term. She left the administration in 2019 and went on to help create the American First Policy Institute, a pro-Trump think tank that has been closely involved in planning for the second term.

Ms McMahon is perhaps most known for her time as chief executive of World Wrestling Entertainment, which she co-founded with her husband, Vince McMahon. Together, they built the company from a small regional corporation to a multinational public enterprise. She stepped down from the executive role in 2009. In 2010 and 2012, she ran unsuccessfully for US Senate in Connecticut.

If confirmed by the US Senate, Ms McMahon will take over a department that Mr Trump has repeatedly said he wants to get rid of. But doing so will require an act of Congress. Some policy analysts have said Mr Trump and his allies are more likely to leverage the department’s power to reshape the higher education system. Mr Trump himself has pledged to fire accreditors to reclaim colleges from the “radical left” and proposed creating a free online university funded by taxes on wealthy private colleges.

In a statement, Mr Trump said Ms McMahon has been “a fierce advocate for Parents’ Rights” and school choice.

“As Secretary of Education, Linda will fight tirelessly to expand ‘Choice’ to every State in America, and empower parents to make the best Education decisions for their families,” Mr Trump said in the statement.

Although her experience in education is sparse, Ms McMahon has some expertise. A New Bern, North Carolina, native, she graduated from East Carolina University in 1969 with a bachelor’s degree in French and certification to teach. She also served a one-year term on the Connecticut State Board of Education after being appointed by Republican governor Jodi Rell in 2009.

She’s a longtime supporter of and board member at Sacred Heart University, a private Roman Catholic institution in Fairfield, Connecticut. In 2012, Sacred Heart’s student commons was named after Ms McMahon, who gave $5 million (£3.9 million) to support capital projects at the university, according to The Register Citizen.

Picking Ms McMahon, a wealthy executive with little experience in education, is a move reminiscent of Mr Trump’s first term, when he appointed Betsy DeVos education secretary. Ms DeVos, a billionaire philanthropist known for her support of school choice, voucher programs and charter schools, was a controversial candidate whose confirmation required then vice-president Mike Pence to cast a tie-breaking vote in her favour.

Mr Trump said Ms McMahon would bring decades of leadership experience as well as a “deep understanding of both Education and Business” to empower the next generation of students and workers. The president-elect also reiterated his campaign pledge to get rid of the Department of Education.

“We will send Education BACK TO THE STATES, and Linda will spearhead that effort,” Mr Trump said.

Ms McMahon will be the second consecutive education secretary with ties to Connecticut – current secretary Miguel Cardona grew up in the state and served as commissioner of the Connecticut State Department of Education from 2019 to 2021.

Ms McMahon’s name was not one of those thrown out as a potential candidate to lead the department, although The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this week that she was in the running for education secretary or US ambassador to the UK, citing people familiar with the matter. Ms McMahon was also up for the position of commerce secretary, CNN reported, although that job went to Howard Lutnick, also a co-chair of the transition.

Candidates whom some lobbyists and experts considered likely to be on the shortlist included Ryan Walters and Cade Brumley, the state superintendents of Oklahoma and Louisiana, respectively; Tiffany Justice, co-founder of Moms for Liberty; and Christopher Rufo, a board member at New College of Florida and senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research.

In September Ms McMahon penned an op-ed for The Hill supporting the Workforce Pell Act introduced by congressional Republicans in 2023, offering a rare glimpse into her potential education policy agenda.

The bill, which would expand eligibility for federal Pell Grants to students enrolled in short-term credential programmes, was blocked by Democrats but faces a much easier path to becoming law in the new Congress. Critics worry that in lieu of increases in overall Pell funding, expanding the programme would deplete funds for students pursuing four-year degrees.

In the Hill piece, Ms McMahon argues that Pell funding for credentials such as coding boot camps would “create high-paying jobs for more Americans.” A report published on 18 November on a federal short-term Pell pilot programme found that it did not lead to higher employment or earnings for participating students.

“Half a century ago…colleges were focused on preparing students for professional roles at the highest levels of government, science, business and the arts,” she writes. “Today, however, many degree programs have lost sight of their mission…Our educational system must offer clear and viable pathways to the American Dream aside from four-year degrees.”

Career Education Colleges and Universities, a national trade association representing for-profit technical institutions, endorsed Mr Trump’s pick in a statement.

“Linda McMahon has extensive experience that positions her well to address many of the key areas that will be education priorities in the new administration,” CECU said. “We look forward to working with the new secretary and the team assembled around her. Under her leadership, we are confident that the new Department of Education will take a more reasoned and thoughtful approach in addressing many of the overreaching and punitive regulations put forth by the Biden administration, especially those targeting private career schools.”